One of the first things I ever learned about bicycles was that Campagnolo (aka Campy) was the end all for all components, Super Record (aka SR) was the end all for all Campy parts, and that the SR pedals and bottom brackets were the end all to all SR parts. This is because they had titanium axles.
Titanium.
At the time, titanium was used on Eddy Merckx's Hour Record bike, F-15s, space ships, the SR-71, super secret Soviet subs, and, well, the lightest pedal and bottom bracket axles out there.
There was one small problem with those axles.
They broke.
In fact, they broke at the most inopportune times. Laurent Fignon, in some race early in his career, was on some solo break (or perhaps a TT) when, pedaling hard over the top of a slight rise, his crank arm and part of the bottom bracket axle separated from the rest of the bike. He ended up on the ground, his director Cyril Guimard pleading with him to get up. This shot was captured in magnificent form in a photograph I can't find and by a photographer whose name I don't recall. After this happened both Fignon and Guimard swore off the unreliable titanium axles. To win a race you must first finish, and sitting on the ground with only the crankarm attached to your shoe doesn't help you finish.
"Wimps!" I thought. Victory requires sacrifice! A racer at that level must be willing to risk everything to win!
This was my introduction to titanium axles.
To be fair, the SR generation of titanium was not a strong alloy. Contrary to what some may think, titanium on its own is not incredibly strong. Only when alloyed with other metals does it gain the strength that gave it the miracle metal status in the bike industry. Pure titanium is most useful as a fuel to burn - the resultant pure white ash is used as white paint pigment, replacing the lead based pigment used until then.
So for a long time, the titanium equipped SR groups were exotically expensive and terribly unreliable. Retailers would repackage Campy SR groups as "SR Pro" groups, where the lightweight SR pedals and bottom brackets were replaced with similar looking but more reliable steel-axled Nuovo Record (NR) counterparts.
Back then weight was everything. Aero meant wearing your cap backwards. Everyone's obsession was with lightening the bike.
Since weight was a big deal, racers would sacrifice a bit of reliability to lose a few grams. In this power-measuring era it's apparent that such gram counting did not save any significant amount of energy, but the psychological effects must have been tremendous. Racers would trim cable housing down as much as possible, drill out all sorts of components (even head set cups!), and saw off the outer part of a NR pedal cage (made of aluminum). These Swiss cheese bikes looked really cool but their functionality was, at best, suspect.
I was no different from the drill-wielding pros from the 70s, albeit I was 10 years down the road. I drilled out and filed down shifters, a bunch of chainrings, and even went as far as filing down stress-raising ridges from the back of some of my crankarms.
Proper design, though, reduces weight much better than drilling out overweight bike components.
One of the things I did was to use Aerolite pedals. They were awkward off the bike, took forever to set up, had a one shot deal with your shoes since you had to drill out the sole for the exact cleat placement, but once set up they were a dream. They weighed about 168 grams for a pair (including cleats and hardware!) for the steel version, less than half that for the titanium version. The pedals are light enough that virtually every single "super light bike" built in the last few years used these pedals.
Drilled out of course.
Anyway, since the pedals were so light, I tended to use the steel ones as my budget didn't cover the price difference to the titanium ones ($70 versus $140 for a set).
A significant problem was that they were made in the US using standard measure fittings so the 5 mm allen wrench didn't fit - you had to use a 3/16 inch. So the shop would buy a couple sets of standard allen wrenches just for the Aerolite folks.
In addition, the pedal threads were actually standard threads, not metric. Although similar in size, the 9/16" threads would bind in the metric cranks. Tightening and loosening the pedals required a vice, a steady supply of 3/16" allen wrenches, and a lot of time and patience. Once done you'd be left with a pile of twisted 3/16" allen wrenches, a hot pedal (from friction unscrewing it), and a crankarm suited for only Aerolites from then on.
Another problem is that the pedal sometimes broke apart, the body sliding off the axle, leaving you with half the pedal in your shoe, the other half still on the bike, and the two halves far enough apart to cause all sorts of problems. You could tell when this happened because you'd look down at the pedal on the crank and it looked like it went on a serious diet, losing half its diameter.
Approaching the finish of one race, my team lined up in perfect formation, I accelerated to stay with their leadout when suddenly my foot slammed the ground, my thigh slammed on the top tube, and my rhythm went to pieces. After I picked myself up off the top tube, I looked at my foot. The pedal axle was still there so no spontaneous pedal disassembly. But there was a lot of blood on my ankle, blood that wasn't there a second ago. I tried to pedal but my foot plummeted to the road again.
I looked at my crank.
No pedal axle.
My pedal had come unscrewed and had fallen out of the crank.
Obviously I didn't do very well in that sprint. At least I learned that if my foot suddenly dropped onto the ground, the first thing I'd check was to see if my pedal was still connected to the crank.
When SRP started coming out with titanium bolts for replacing the steel ones in brakes, cranks, seatposts, stems, and other parts of the bike, I immediately thought of poor Fignon, sitting on the pavement, a crankarm strapped to his shoe, the rest of his bike on the road a few feet away. I let the "beta testers" buy and try the light bolts. SRP and other manufacturers were careful to point out that this titanium was a strong alloyed version of the primitive titanium from 10 years prior.
When the beta test riders returned from their rides, intact and breathing, I decided to try a few parts. The structural ones were titanium, like brake bolt replacement kits (replacing every bolt and nut on a caliper brake), crank arm bolts, stem bolts, seatpost bolts, etc. The best value pieces were the axles - big pieces, they were heavy in steel and seemed oddly light in titanium. The less loaded pieces were aluminum - chainring bolts, the stem binder bolt, a derailleur pivot bolt, maybe the water bottle bolts. All told a bolt kit costing half as much as a group might save you, on a good day, 100 grams.
But it was fun swapping out the parts and so we did it.
Some more adventurous companies came out with, you guessed it, titanium pedal and bottom bracket axles. Mind you, these were pedal and bottom bracket companies, not aftermarket tuners selling stuff aimed at the big companies' stuff.
One such company was Sampson, and although their foray into pedals was simply disastrous (unusable, hard to get in, too easy to get out, impossible to walk on), their cranks and bottom brackets gained some favor.
In fact, I couldn't help but buy a bottom bracket for my bike.
With aluminum cups and a titanium axle, this bottom bracket was as light as could be, and it cost just more than a pair of ti axles for my hubs. This was about the time I came up with my 45 gram increment method of calculating weight on a bike, and according to my excited calculations, the titanium bottom bracket was worth almost three 45 gram counts - in other words, about a third of a pound. I installed it carefully, rode it a bit, and it seemed okay.
At that time I had quite the noisy bike. The replaceable dropout always loosened up so the bike was always creaking. My bar and stem never liked each other so that creaked too. And some other miscellaneous parts creaked in sympathy. In this cacophony of creaks, I never noticed when a new creak popped up.
I was doing Gimbles, went long, and was looking to get a good workout. We'd gone over the initial steps (when the ride splits long and short) and somehow I ended up chasing down the guys attacking the group by the time we were down to this one light a mile or two after the downhill right turn (the biggie at the bottom of the short descent). Feeling good, I was scampering after everything that moved. I felt a good ride in my legs and I wanted to use my ride currency 100%.
We eased a bit before a right turn which brought us to the short climb unique to the "regular" long loop and I found myself at the front of the group. An ambulance, lights flashing, came flying at us from the other side. Like a good boy I eased, moved right, and surprisingly the whole group sort of followed. Once the ambulance passed I went to crank up the big gear again, anxious to get back up to speed.
My chain skipped and a rock or something bounced off my ankle at the same time, causing a sharp pain. The ankle pain made me think of a pedal axle unscrewing, but by then I had moved to SPD-Rs so it seemed wrong that the pedal would unscrew. I looked down to see if the pedal axle was missing from beneath my shoe, or, as I learned the hard way in that one sprint, if the pedal has come out of the crank.
Pedal axle under shoe?
Check.
Pedal axle attached to crank?
Check.
So why was my foot dragging on the ground?
Then, the woman behind me shrieked.
"Oh my God your chainring is broken!"
I looked down again. The reason why my foot was dragging on the ground but my pedal checks came back okay was that although my pedal was in once piece, as was the crank, the crankarm itself had done a "Fignon" - the whole right crankarm was dangling from my shoe, bouncing along the road.
I thought of correcting the woman's shrieking but technically inaccurate call (the chainring was not broken, not even the crank) but I figured since her shrieking got me to figure out what it was, the spirit of her shriek was accurate. So I let it go.
I pulled over, letting the chainring bounce along the road. I didn't know if lifting my foot would cause it to unclip from the pedal, and the last thing I wanted to do was to inadvertently fling a right crankarm into the Gimbles ride.
Talk about a way to get banned for life.
An ex-girlfriend, the only one I really stayed in touch with after the fact the fact, slowed and asked if I was okay. I hollered I was fine but I was a bit stranded because I couldn't ride. She turned around, examined my predicament, and concurred. Although I insisted she complete the ride and then get the car, she went back on the route instead to get her car.
I walked slowly to the little four way intersection we had just passed. I never paid attention to the stores there but now I hoped one would be a deli or convenience store. Then I remembered I had no money.
At the corner I found a warm piece of curb in the sun and sat down. My ankle had an angry blotch on it from smacking the big ring, and I'd ground the top of about four teeth on said ring down a bit. I could see the piece of bottom bracket axle sticking out from the crank, but when I touched it I cut myself. I left it alone.
I examined the sharp piece of axle. It was about as sharp as could be. The titanium inside appeared fresh for half the axle, but the other half looked dusty and old. I realized that when the axle finally gave way, it had already been cracked halfway through. The axle had a poorly designed profile with an enormous stress raiser between the thin bit that went into the crank and held the bearings and the thick middle bit that made the axle so stiff. Mechanical engineering dictates stress raisers fail first and my axle followed the rule to the letter.
I thought of the big efforts I had just made - pushing the big gears over the initial steps (a couple miles of step climbs), sprinting after that really strong rider, then attacking after a short pause. I realized how lucky I'd been - even the ambulance going by had helped save me because if I'd been sprinting out of the saddle out of the turn, the axle snapping could have thrown me off the bike.
Instead, I had been coasting along at about 18 mph, pushed down on the pedal once, and that was that.
I had a long time to think before the familiar green car pulled up and brought me out of my post-ride daze.
Wimp or not, I have never ridden a titanium bottom bracket since that day, and I even passed up on buying my Keos with titanium axles.
After all, to finish first, you must first finish.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Cornering Lines, Take 2
I thought it ironic that a year after a post about Rasmussen's poor cornering and how go-karts could fix such things, well, Rabobank had their next team building exercises include go-karts.
Heh.
You'll find my consulting bill in the mail :)
Heh.
You'll find my consulting bill in the mail :)
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Life - Passion for Cycling
A long time ago I sat on my bike next to a rectangular criterium course in Danbury, CT. The course had changed from the original unusual course with a backstretch chicane to a much more standard four corner one. The Juniors were racing, and like all Junior races, a couple talents were cranking the pain screws all the way down. Few could hang on and the rest of the field lay scattered around the course.
I watched as one kid time-trialed grimly, off the back, just like a lot of other guys in his race. Guys in front of him sat up and rolled off the course, but this kid, he kept going. I could relate to his effort - after all, as a Junior, I often found myself in the exact same position.
I cheered for him, clapped, and watched as he dug himself deeper into that "I've blown up" hole. I hoped he could at least finish the race, for his sake, but with the finish approaching, it seemed unlikely.
Finally, at some point, his race was over.
He pulled to the shoulder and off the course. Although he was obviously disappointed, it was equally apparent that this was not a deal breaker.
As an "experienced" rider in my mid-20s, I made an announcement to myself.
"This kid, he'll be racing in 10 years. He may not set the world on fire riding his bike but he'll be there. He has that passion for cycling, not like these other kids who are there simply to beat everyone else or whose parents want them to become the next Greg Lemond."
With that, life intruded.
At some point the kid grew up. I saw him every now and then. Each time, I recalled my private proclamation that one August afternoon. I'd grin to myself because he was still out there, plugging away, and I would keep warming up or racing or talking with bike friends or whatever.
Many years later, he moved into my area, eventually joining the same team. We'd go to races together, or we'd meet up and drive to Gimbles. After one such ride we wanted to go out to eat. Since I had taken a "rubbing alcohol wipe down", I felt presentable enough, at least as a grungy bike rider. Sean wanted to shower first so we went to his apartment to shower. While he got cleaned up I helped his (female) roommate work on a crossword puzzle. I forgot her name that day, but in the same way I figured I'd see that kid racing around for the next ten years, I also figured that this girl and I had some yet-to-be-determined interaction in the future.
He and I and another guy met up regularly to ride to Gimbles. We'd meet in Stamford, a 40 minute ride for me, then ride the hour or so to the Gimbles route. We'd go short on Gimbles (it's a little less than two hours), then, on the way back, cut out a bit early so we could start heading back. The two others stopped in Stamford and I would continue on back home. For me it made a six plus hour day and it made for a good weekend's work.
A year or so later a bunch of us starting meeting once a week for wings at a bar. The kid, now over 21, his female roommate, and I would meet friends in a bar. Cheap wings, a drink or two (or in my case, a soda), and we'd gab for a couple hours. At some point the female roommate and I started dating. One year, with the World Professional Road Race in nearby Canada, the three of us trekked up there to check it out.
Somewhere in there the female roommate moved out to her own place, and after a couple years, moved into a house - with me.
I normally refer to her as "the missus" since we got married in October.
Looking back at my future interaction hunch, I suppose it was pretty accurate. There isn't much more of a significant interaction then getting married. My gut instinct was definitely on target that particular day.
A week or two ago I was going through all the wheels in my place. I found a set of the Kid's wheels, Campy, FiR EA65s, 32 double butted spokes, alloy nipples. I'd built them in the mid to late 90s and the aluminum spoke nipples had started to fail a few years ago. He asked me to rebuild them, and though I accepted the wheels, I simply never got around to them. He had other wheels, bought even more, so rebuilding this beater set simply did not take priority.
When I ran across them I decided I better finish them up.
I called him up and told him I'd replace all the spoke nipples with more reliable brass ones - the wheels really did not need anything else. At the same time we ended up agreeing that he would buy my Eurus wheels from me. I'd deliver both sets of wheels on the upcoming weekend.
Well, with some unusual happenings in my life, I ended up with no time to build the wheels. Again. I sent him an email apologizing for not having the wheels ready - I'd bring them next week.
Saturday morning the missus and I were trying to sort out some stuff before we made the trip to the SW corner of Connecticut. We were sitting at the dining table and she asked about the wheels. I started explaining how I simply ran out of time, yada yada yada, and she told me that maybe I could do them "right now".
I thought about it and decided she was right. I cleared an area on the table, lay down a towel, plunked down the truing stand, and spend the next hour or so rebuilding the Kid's wheels. I also prepped the Eurus wheelset (removed the tires and cassette). Both sets done, we loaded up the car and set off on our way.
A couple hours later, we pulled up to the Kid's driveway. Obviously he's no longer a kid - he's married and they own their own place. Ironically their house is a couple miles away from that criterium course in Danbury. I even drove through their neighborhood to get to the race.
I walked up the driveway, turned the corner, and there he was, raking leaves. I held out my arms, a wheelset dangling from each hand.
"Hey, I have your wheels."
He broke out into a grin. He looked at the rake in his hand, wondering how he could get rid of it so he could take the wheels.
"Where do you want the wheels?", I asked.
He put the rake down.
"Let me take them", he told me, and I handed him the wheels.
A grin spread across his face as he looked from one wheelset to the other. The missus and I had matching grins. Joy is happily contagious.
After a bit he suddenly looked up, almost as if he'd forgotten we were there. "Come on in, say hi to the missus." He pointed the way with a hand holding a wheelset.
We spent a while talking, drinking coffee, and catching up. We both talked enthusiastically about our plans for the upcoming season. We both want to get back on form, and we're both joining new teams to help motivate ourselves.
At some point I had to pause and smile to myself. My hunch all those years ago had been right. The Kid still has the passion for cycling.
I watched as one kid time-trialed grimly, off the back, just like a lot of other guys in his race. Guys in front of him sat up and rolled off the course, but this kid, he kept going. I could relate to his effort - after all, as a Junior, I often found myself in the exact same position.
I cheered for him, clapped, and watched as he dug himself deeper into that "I've blown up" hole. I hoped he could at least finish the race, for his sake, but with the finish approaching, it seemed unlikely.
Finally, at some point, his race was over.
He pulled to the shoulder and off the course. Although he was obviously disappointed, it was equally apparent that this was not a deal breaker.
As an "experienced" rider in my mid-20s, I made an announcement to myself.
"This kid, he'll be racing in 10 years. He may not set the world on fire riding his bike but he'll be there. He has that passion for cycling, not like these other kids who are there simply to beat everyone else or whose parents want them to become the next Greg Lemond."
With that, life intruded.
At some point the kid grew up. I saw him every now and then. Each time, I recalled my private proclamation that one August afternoon. I'd grin to myself because he was still out there, plugging away, and I would keep warming up or racing or talking with bike friends or whatever.
Many years later, he moved into my area, eventually joining the same team. We'd go to races together, or we'd meet up and drive to Gimbles. After one such ride we wanted to go out to eat. Since I had taken a "rubbing alcohol wipe down", I felt presentable enough, at least as a grungy bike rider. Sean wanted to shower first so we went to his apartment to shower. While he got cleaned up I helped his (female) roommate work on a crossword puzzle. I forgot her name that day, but in the same way I figured I'd see that kid racing around for the next ten years, I also figured that this girl and I had some yet-to-be-determined interaction in the future.
He and I and another guy met up regularly to ride to Gimbles. We'd meet in Stamford, a 40 minute ride for me, then ride the hour or so to the Gimbles route. We'd go short on Gimbles (it's a little less than two hours), then, on the way back, cut out a bit early so we could start heading back. The two others stopped in Stamford and I would continue on back home. For me it made a six plus hour day and it made for a good weekend's work.
A year or so later a bunch of us starting meeting once a week for wings at a bar. The kid, now over 21, his female roommate, and I would meet friends in a bar. Cheap wings, a drink or two (or in my case, a soda), and we'd gab for a couple hours. At some point the female roommate and I started dating. One year, with the World Professional Road Race in nearby Canada, the three of us trekked up there to check it out.
Somewhere in there the female roommate moved out to her own place, and after a couple years, moved into a house - with me.
I normally refer to her as "the missus" since we got married in October.
Looking back at my future interaction hunch, I suppose it was pretty accurate. There isn't much more of a significant interaction then getting married. My gut instinct was definitely on target that particular day.
A week or two ago I was going through all the wheels in my place. I found a set of the Kid's wheels, Campy, FiR EA65s, 32 double butted spokes, alloy nipples. I'd built them in the mid to late 90s and the aluminum spoke nipples had started to fail a few years ago. He asked me to rebuild them, and though I accepted the wheels, I simply never got around to them. He had other wheels, bought even more, so rebuilding this beater set simply did not take priority.
When I ran across them I decided I better finish them up.
I called him up and told him I'd replace all the spoke nipples with more reliable brass ones - the wheels really did not need anything else. At the same time we ended up agreeing that he would buy my Eurus wheels from me. I'd deliver both sets of wheels on the upcoming weekend.
Well, with some unusual happenings in my life, I ended up with no time to build the wheels. Again. I sent him an email apologizing for not having the wheels ready - I'd bring them next week.
Saturday morning the missus and I were trying to sort out some stuff before we made the trip to the SW corner of Connecticut. We were sitting at the dining table and she asked about the wheels. I started explaining how I simply ran out of time, yada yada yada, and she told me that maybe I could do them "right now".
I thought about it and decided she was right. I cleared an area on the table, lay down a towel, plunked down the truing stand, and spend the next hour or so rebuilding the Kid's wheels. I also prepped the Eurus wheelset (removed the tires and cassette). Both sets done, we loaded up the car and set off on our way.
A couple hours later, we pulled up to the Kid's driveway. Obviously he's no longer a kid - he's married and they own their own place. Ironically their house is a couple miles away from that criterium course in Danbury. I even drove through their neighborhood to get to the race.
I walked up the driveway, turned the corner, and there he was, raking leaves. I held out my arms, a wheelset dangling from each hand.
"Hey, I have your wheels."
He broke out into a grin. He looked at the rake in his hand, wondering how he could get rid of it so he could take the wheels.
"Where do you want the wheels?", I asked.
He put the rake down.
"Let me take them", he told me, and I handed him the wheels.
A grin spread across his face as he looked from one wheelset to the other. The missus and I had matching grins. Joy is happily contagious.
After a bit he suddenly looked up, almost as if he'd forgotten we were there. "Come on in, say hi to the missus." He pointed the way with a hand holding a wheelset.
We spent a while talking, drinking coffee, and catching up. We both talked enthusiastically about our plans for the upcoming season. We both want to get back on form, and we're both joining new teams to help motivate ourselves.
At some point I had to pause and smile to myself. My hunch all those years ago had been right. The Kid still has the passion for cycling.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
How To - Presta Valve Locknuts
You know those presta valve locknuts? The ones that you screw on to hold your presta valves in place?
Don't put them on.
I don't use them for a functional reason - when your tire loses a bit of air, you aren't being methodical about pumping up your tires, or you do some insane maneuvering which moves the tire around the rim, the locknut will prevent the valve from moving.
If it moves, and you noticed your previously 90 degree valve stem is now at 45 degrees, it's like your smoke detector going off. It may not indicate fire but it does indicate something is wrong. This gives you the chance to deflate the tire/tube, slide it back around so the valve is at 90 deg to the rim again, and reinflate. And think about what caused the tire to move around the rim.
If you use a locknut the valve will not move. If it doesn't move but your tire did migrate around the rim a bit, then your tube is under extreme duress. More importantly you can't tell because your valve is happily pointed up at 90 deg to the rim - it's like the smoke detector hanging on the ceiling with no battery inside. You find out only when the valve rips off the tube, goes shooting off, and you have a massive and sudden air pressure loss. Not good, esp if it's a front tire (typically front tire moves when you brake hard and have low pressure or a low tension tire). A slow flat will give you time to react. A fast flat, virtually no time.
If I need help in seating a pump, I'll put the locknut on the valve, start pumping, and when the tube has enough air in it so I can re-engage the pump without it, I'll remove the locknut and top off the pressure.
Don't put them on.
I don't use them for a functional reason - when your tire loses a bit of air, you aren't being methodical about pumping up your tires, or you do some insane maneuvering which moves the tire around the rim, the locknut will prevent the valve from moving.
If it moves, and you noticed your previously 90 degree valve stem is now at 45 degrees, it's like your smoke detector going off. It may not indicate fire but it does indicate something is wrong. This gives you the chance to deflate the tire/tube, slide it back around so the valve is at 90 deg to the rim again, and reinflate. And think about what caused the tire to move around the rim.
If you use a locknut the valve will not move. If it doesn't move but your tire did migrate around the rim a bit, then your tube is under extreme duress. More importantly you can't tell because your valve is happily pointed up at 90 deg to the rim - it's like the smoke detector hanging on the ceiling with no battery inside. You find out only when the valve rips off the tube, goes shooting off, and you have a massive and sudden air pressure loss. Not good, esp if it's a front tire (typically front tire moves when you brake hard and have low pressure or a low tension tire). A slow flat will give you time to react. A fast flat, virtually no time.
If I need help in seating a pump, I'll put the locknut on the valve, start pumping, and when the tube has enough air in it so I can re-engage the pump without it, I'll remove the locknut and top off the pressure.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Nothing Special
I may not be a fan of Michael Schumacher but I wish this taxi driver had one of those "dashboard cams" for this little drive.
Of course if there had been one, he might have lost his license for a bit. Or, if he was in Finland, he might have paid a whopper of a fine based on his income from prior years.
Of course if there had been one, he might have lost his license for a bit. Or, if he was in Finland, he might have paid a whopper of a fine based on his income from prior years.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Racing - CCC
A couple years ago, at the Bethel Spring Series, I was, as usual, touching up the course while the first races went on. The old joke is that I clear my sprint lanes extra carefully so that I can jump and sprint where I want to on the course.
The funny part of the joke is that it's true.
So I spent a lot of time fixing up the edges of the last 200 meters of the course. It meanders to the right and then the left so the field typically moves from one side to another in the sprint. Although it's not ideal it's at least on an uphill and slows even the fastest sprinters substantially. This met one of the race's initial goals - the slowest possible finish in order to make the race safer as well as ease the job of picking places.
Since the races go off pretty much in reverse experience order, the newest additions to the racing world, the Category 5s, go first. With small field limits (to keep things safe) we actually hold two races each week. Then the 4s go, and we proceed through the ranks until the peak of the day, the Pro-1-2-3 race.
I was using our big leaf blower to push the little pebbles and such ("marbles") off the outer perimeter of the finish - if I needed to move over a lot, I didn't want to find my tires skating over this stuff.
Every lap I'd stop and watch the race go by, in this case the Cat 4s.
In particular I noted a tall, lanky rider on a new Specialized carbon fiber bike. The racer had asked me some innocuous questions and said that he'd actually come to the race the prior year, watched it, and thought bike racing was the coolest thing ever. He returned with a bike and the rest, as they say, was history.
This year he was a Cat 4. He'd joined a new team, Connecticut Coast Cycle (CCC), had that spiffy Specialized, and looked very strong out there. He'd attack constantly, and although he never got away, he placed well in the uphill sprint.
He reminded me of an untamed Cat 5 from a few years prior - he also attacked relentlessly, used all his reserves, and still managed to place well. One race he spent 10 laps solo off the front, got caught shortly before the finish, and still placed (I think) second. As the namesake to my first favorite author Alistair McLean, I felt obligated to direct his obvious strength in a little more focused way. I approached him and, after complimenting him on his strength, suggested that maybe he should sit in a little more, that when he felt that irresistible urge to attack that he should instead picture himself using all the saved strength in the final sprint, annihilating everyone around him.
He won the next race in a field sprint.
My "coaching" score with new riders one for one, I approached this lanky CCC rider. He too seemed very fit, very strong, and with a bit of focus, that energy, I felt, would net him a win.
I learned a long time ago that a good way to coach or advise is by using the "hamburger" method. No, you do not ply your people with McDonalds and hope for the best. The hamburger refers to your data dissemination approach. First you compliment the advisee on something they've already done or are doing (the "bun"). Then you point out what they need to do, what they did wrong, or whatever else is the actual message (the "patty"). Then you finish with either an illustration of the potential improvements or send a compliment or two their way (the other "bun").
The "buns" have to be genuine - you can't tell a racer who got dropped at the first turn that he "looked strong". Instead, you might point out that "he did a really good job clipping in right away". If the bun is not genuine, the racer will not listen to you.
With this in mind, I found the lanky CCC guy. I don't recall the exact conversation but it went something like this.
"Hey, how'd you do out there?"
(Like I didn't know - I'm the promoter and I post the results.)
"I got second (or third or whatever) again. I just can't win and it's frustrating."
"Well, you look really, really strong out there - to solo for those five (or whatever) laps midrace takes a lot of power. I was really impressed."
(That, in case you didn't catch it, was the top bun.)
"Yeah well I wanted to break the field apart but it didn't work."
"You know, I was watching you race out there. You were just off the win but you were up there even after that huge effort. Now I've seen a bazillion races out here and it's really unusual that someone breaks away in the 4s. Have you thought of sitting in, saving your reserves for the finish, and going for it then?"
(The meat of my advice.)
The rider looked down, in a bit of thought.
"I don't know, it seems risky to just wait for the sprint. I feel better if I could break away."
"Well, you sprinted pretty well this week even after your big effort."
"But it's so hard in the middle of the race to just sit there - everyone's going easy and I just want to go!"
"When that happens just think of all the energy you're saving and hold yourself back. Think about womping them all in the sprint."
"I'll have to think about this."
"You know, you're probably one of the strongest riders out there. You just need to harness your power and you'll do well, I'm sure of it."
(That's the bottom patty.)
He won the next weekend.
I found a picture of the win and sent him a link - it ended up on his computer as his desktop for a while. I smiled when he told me that - my most significant win ended up on my computer as my desktop for a long time too.
The next year he was in my race, and he'd recruited a bunch of guys to join him. My season goals, as usual, were to win the Bethel Spring Series and the Nutmeg State Games. My goals and their reality collided on the first two weekends when they walked away with the lanky rider in the lead and me with nothing to show after two miserable (for me) races.
Their teamwork, cooperation, and even help running the race (they were marshaling as well) impressed me. With my overall chances shot (miss out on points on one week and you have a chance - two weeks and you have no chance), I decided to try and help them out.
I talked to them about setting up the field for a sprint at that course. I should know since I got probably 2/3 of my (small number of) race wins there. I talked to them about wind, gearing, efforts, and what it really means to do a leadout.
They did fine but I think someone took the lead from them that next week.
Now I decided to actually ride for them. During the race I'd let gaps go if they had a few guys in front of me. I'd force others to chase, do more work, all in a very subtle way. In fact, I was so subtle that sometimes their riders didn't know I was actually doing stuff and they'd end up closing the gaps I left. I guess I'll have to explain more about faking it and stuff. Unfortunately I could never contribute that much. In one race a huge group (including a bunch of the CCC guys) got away. In the last lap I decided to make an effort - and one of the CCC guys, when he saw me on his wheel, tried to lead me out. I was so blown that I couldn't follow. And the next week I got distracted by some stuff that happened on the last lap and never actually rode for them in the finale.
I decided to try and remedy that the last week of the Series. Mother Nature had her say though - that last week was marked by the worst rain storm in a hundred years. The storm closed I95, a lot of local streets, and the rain came down in sheets for the races. Although I couldn't do very much, I was one more guy in the small miserable field that didn't chase things down. One of their riders went, no one chased, and he won both the race and the Series. The lanky guy finished up there in overall but he was happy the team won, an unusual thing for a strong rider to be so generous like that.
I rarely raced afterwards but followed their progress through the New England scene. They seemed very strong, got a lot of good placings, and then their intense winter caught up with them. After the tall lanky guy did really well at Fitchburg, they seemed to fall off their incredible collective form. Burnt out or injured, they dropped from sight.
In the meantime, I started to see some changes in the future of my team. My main sponsor, the one emblazoned across my chest and back, is my employer. I noticed a "shift in the winds" a few months ago and started preparing for the worst. One thing I did was to consider actually making money off the Bethel Spring Series, and so I've been preparing to make it legal for me to draw money from that account. I started exploring other career choices, with the intent of moving to one if I found one that suited me.
I also decided that if things went south at work, I wouldn't race for Carpe Diem Racing. I love the name so I'd keep it (like a domain name squatter) and let whoever wanted to use it as their team name. For the actual members, since there were only two or three active racers on the team, I felt it would be okay to stop racing for the team.
And so I did.
I contacted the lanky guy and asked if they'd be willing to take me on as one of their Cat 3 racers. He was happy to take me on and announced the newest addition to the rest of the team. I got a warm welcome and immediately felt like I was part of the family. I sent out an email to my old team saying I'd be racing for another team, CCC. One spoke to me privately and said that with his recent move to a different area, he'd also be riding for a different team. Carpe Diem Racing, it seems, will be going into a bit of hibernation for a while. There is still one or two guys out there so you may see it out there, but for now, it'll be unlikely.
Appropriately, a week later, I was out of a job.
I feel fortunate actually. I was looking to leave the IT world, or at least the 24 hour IT Support world. I can pursue my other goals full time now. Even my "cycle-therapy" allotted time will go up. I trained 1100 miles between April and October in 2007. I hope to do that in a few weeks now.
As the missus put it, "You're going to be so strong next year."
Let it be, let it be.
The funny part of the joke is that it's true.
So I spent a lot of time fixing up the edges of the last 200 meters of the course. It meanders to the right and then the left so the field typically moves from one side to another in the sprint. Although it's not ideal it's at least on an uphill and slows even the fastest sprinters substantially. This met one of the race's initial goals - the slowest possible finish in order to make the race safer as well as ease the job of picking places.
Since the races go off pretty much in reverse experience order, the newest additions to the racing world, the Category 5s, go first. With small field limits (to keep things safe) we actually hold two races each week. Then the 4s go, and we proceed through the ranks until the peak of the day, the Pro-1-2-3 race.
I was using our big leaf blower to push the little pebbles and such ("marbles") off the outer perimeter of the finish - if I needed to move over a lot, I didn't want to find my tires skating over this stuff.
Every lap I'd stop and watch the race go by, in this case the Cat 4s.
In particular I noted a tall, lanky rider on a new Specialized carbon fiber bike. The racer had asked me some innocuous questions and said that he'd actually come to the race the prior year, watched it, and thought bike racing was the coolest thing ever. He returned with a bike and the rest, as they say, was history.
This year he was a Cat 4. He'd joined a new team, Connecticut Coast Cycle (CCC), had that spiffy Specialized, and looked very strong out there. He'd attack constantly, and although he never got away, he placed well in the uphill sprint.
He reminded me of an untamed Cat 5 from a few years prior - he also attacked relentlessly, used all his reserves, and still managed to place well. One race he spent 10 laps solo off the front, got caught shortly before the finish, and still placed (I think) second. As the namesake to my first favorite author Alistair McLean, I felt obligated to direct his obvious strength in a little more focused way. I approached him and, after complimenting him on his strength, suggested that maybe he should sit in a little more, that when he felt that irresistible urge to attack that he should instead picture himself using all the saved strength in the final sprint, annihilating everyone around him.
He won the next race in a field sprint.
My "coaching" score with new riders one for one, I approached this lanky CCC rider. He too seemed very fit, very strong, and with a bit of focus, that energy, I felt, would net him a win.
I learned a long time ago that a good way to coach or advise is by using the "hamburger" method. No, you do not ply your people with McDonalds and hope for the best. The hamburger refers to your data dissemination approach. First you compliment the advisee on something they've already done or are doing (the "bun"). Then you point out what they need to do, what they did wrong, or whatever else is the actual message (the "patty"). Then you finish with either an illustration of the potential improvements or send a compliment or two their way (the other "bun").
The "buns" have to be genuine - you can't tell a racer who got dropped at the first turn that he "looked strong". Instead, you might point out that "he did a really good job clipping in right away". If the bun is not genuine, the racer will not listen to you.
With this in mind, I found the lanky CCC guy. I don't recall the exact conversation but it went something like this.
"Hey, how'd you do out there?"
(Like I didn't know - I'm the promoter and I post the results.)
"I got second (or third or whatever) again. I just can't win and it's frustrating."
"Well, you look really, really strong out there - to solo for those five (or whatever) laps midrace takes a lot of power. I was really impressed."
(That, in case you didn't catch it, was the top bun.)
"Yeah well I wanted to break the field apart but it didn't work."
"You know, I was watching you race out there. You were just off the win but you were up there even after that huge effort. Now I've seen a bazillion races out here and it's really unusual that someone breaks away in the 4s. Have you thought of sitting in, saving your reserves for the finish, and going for it then?"
(The meat of my advice.)
The rider looked down, in a bit of thought.
"I don't know, it seems risky to just wait for the sprint. I feel better if I could break away."
"Well, you sprinted pretty well this week even after your big effort."
"But it's so hard in the middle of the race to just sit there - everyone's going easy and I just want to go!"
"When that happens just think of all the energy you're saving and hold yourself back. Think about womping them all in the sprint."
"I'll have to think about this."
"You know, you're probably one of the strongest riders out there. You just need to harness your power and you'll do well, I'm sure of it."
(That's the bottom patty.)
He won the next weekend.
I found a picture of the win and sent him a link - it ended up on his computer as his desktop for a while. I smiled when he told me that - my most significant win ended up on my computer as my desktop for a long time too.
The next year he was in my race, and he'd recruited a bunch of guys to join him. My season goals, as usual, were to win the Bethel Spring Series and the Nutmeg State Games. My goals and their reality collided on the first two weekends when they walked away with the lanky rider in the lead and me with nothing to show after two miserable (for me) races.
Their teamwork, cooperation, and even help running the race (they were marshaling as well) impressed me. With my overall chances shot (miss out on points on one week and you have a chance - two weeks and you have no chance), I decided to try and help them out.
I talked to them about setting up the field for a sprint at that course. I should know since I got probably 2/3 of my (small number of) race wins there. I talked to them about wind, gearing, efforts, and what it really means to do a leadout.
They did fine but I think someone took the lead from them that next week.
Now I decided to actually ride for them. During the race I'd let gaps go if they had a few guys in front of me. I'd force others to chase, do more work, all in a very subtle way. In fact, I was so subtle that sometimes their riders didn't know I was actually doing stuff and they'd end up closing the gaps I left. I guess I'll have to explain more about faking it and stuff. Unfortunately I could never contribute that much. In one race a huge group (including a bunch of the CCC guys) got away. In the last lap I decided to make an effort - and one of the CCC guys, when he saw me on his wheel, tried to lead me out. I was so blown that I couldn't follow. And the next week I got distracted by some stuff that happened on the last lap and never actually rode for them in the finale.
I decided to try and remedy that the last week of the Series. Mother Nature had her say though - that last week was marked by the worst rain storm in a hundred years. The storm closed I95, a lot of local streets, and the rain came down in sheets for the races. Although I couldn't do very much, I was one more guy in the small miserable field that didn't chase things down. One of their riders went, no one chased, and he won both the race and the Series. The lanky guy finished up there in overall but he was happy the team won, an unusual thing for a strong rider to be so generous like that.
I rarely raced afterwards but followed their progress through the New England scene. They seemed very strong, got a lot of good placings, and then their intense winter caught up with them. After the tall lanky guy did really well at Fitchburg, they seemed to fall off their incredible collective form. Burnt out or injured, they dropped from sight.
In the meantime, I started to see some changes in the future of my team. My main sponsor, the one emblazoned across my chest and back, is my employer. I noticed a "shift in the winds" a few months ago and started preparing for the worst. One thing I did was to consider actually making money off the Bethel Spring Series, and so I've been preparing to make it legal for me to draw money from that account. I started exploring other career choices, with the intent of moving to one if I found one that suited me.
I also decided that if things went south at work, I wouldn't race for Carpe Diem Racing. I love the name so I'd keep it (like a domain name squatter) and let whoever wanted to use it as their team name. For the actual members, since there were only two or three active racers on the team, I felt it would be okay to stop racing for the team.
And so I did.
I contacted the lanky guy and asked if they'd be willing to take me on as one of their Cat 3 racers. He was happy to take me on and announced the newest addition to the rest of the team. I got a warm welcome and immediately felt like I was part of the family. I sent out an email to my old team saying I'd be racing for another team, CCC. One spoke to me privately and said that with his recent move to a different area, he'd also be riding for a different team. Carpe Diem Racing, it seems, will be going into a bit of hibernation for a while. There is still one or two guys out there so you may see it out there, but for now, it'll be unlikely.
Appropriately, a week later, I was out of a job.
I feel fortunate actually. I was looking to leave the IT world, or at least the 24 hour IT Support world. I can pursue my other goals full time now. Even my "cycle-therapy" allotted time will go up. I trained 1100 miles between April and October in 2007. I hope to do that in a few weeks now.
As the missus put it, "You're going to be so strong next year."
Let it be, let it be.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Racing - Team Comp
Recently I came across some comments on the forums concerning what team a racer should join. The racer's original team had a good camaraderie, were friendly, but didn't get as many "benefits" as the other team. The latter got some gear - discounted kits, some entries, and some other non-specified or forgotten benefits. The kicker?
The racer was a Cat 5.
Apparently his biggest concern (and, to be completely honest, it used to be one of mine) was the cost of a team kit. His original team charged "full price" for a kit, the new team "discounted" it. When I made $5.75 an hour (before taxes and stuff), to pay $40 for a team jersey seemed astonishingly expensive. I'd say most riders are not in the same situation, save the high school and perhaps some college students. Those with virtually any sort of full time job should be able to sacrifice one night out for a kit. Figure if you save yourself 8 or 10 pricey beers you'll have a jersey, maybe a couple cases of the cheap stuff. Or a few pizzas.
Now, one of the things that I think escaped the questioning racer's learning curve is what a jersey actually costs. For example, could he define what constitutes full price for a jersey or bib short?
For that matter, can you?
One unspecified company will sell you a jersey with unlimited colors for $45 plus shipping, about $50 total. Verge Sports, for a 3 color, will run a bit more - $68 for a small order, with extra for some other stuff, usually they give you a break, so call it $68 even with the extras. Not sure about shipping. Even if the team ordered the same looking gear from the two different companies and sold it at "cost", the "price" would be different to the end user.
The difference? My Unspecified stuff I bought in the last two years is wrecked. Granted, this quality level is fine for a team that changes sponsors like you (should) change underwear. You get tons of colors, gear that will work for a season, and along with low minimums, you can outfit a pretty smart looking team.
On the other hand, my Verge stuff from 5 years ago is fine - in fact I wear the Verge stuff regularly since my "other" brand of bibs ripped at some bib seams, my SS jerseys ripped at seams, and my knickers bib area is also ripping. The only thing that hasn't ripped is the jacket. And before you crack the fat jokes, they're the same size as the Verge stuff. But believe me, when I first put the stuff on and it disintegrated on me, I thought "wtf I didn't gain that much weight".
So, let's pretend you're in the same position as that anonymous Cat 5 at the beginning of the post. For argument's sake, we'll say you're either a Cat 5 or 4, maybe even a 3. You're considering jumping ship for a team with better "benefits".
Have you considered helping out your current team? Help with the team clothing order or promote a race or something? Figure out why the team needs to charge "full price" for their kit. See what goes into trying to organize a team, handle various racer's requests for reimbursement or whatnot. Or worse, go after a fellow racer for not paying for the $500 in team gear they picked up but haven't paid for. It's amazing what slackers some of those really nice riders end up being.
Until you've done all that, I'd stick with whatever friendly team you seem to have found. Join a team for the racers, not for the shwag. You want schwag? Ask for stuff from the team you can't really ever get, like, say, a pass through the shop to Interbike. And bring a big backpack for schwag in Sept, and cash for all the race DVDs you could ever want (and socks and whoever else sells stuff at the show without checking if you have an account).
But from the team? I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Personally I don't think even Cat 2s should be comp'ed in an arbitrary fashion. I think a racer should be comp'ed only if they can generate as much or more revenue to the comping agent. In other words, if a racer gets $1000 in goods from a sponsor, it's because the racer can generate the team $1000 in net profit, either from tv or newspaper appearances (they have a definitive value per second or per column inch), in additional sales (need $2-3k of sales to cover $1k in clothing), or in bringing in additional
customers to the sponsor (equal to spending $1000 for direct mail coupons or an ad in a local paper). Can the racer get 100,000 eyeballs a day on the sponsor's name? Well, then they could justify asking for $1000. If not, then not.
And if they flip off a motorist or run a light... well, what's negative publicity cost?
"Yeah, I don't know who that jerkball is on the bike but apparently he's sponsored by So-and-So - I'm going to call them up and give them a piece of my mind."
If this attitude sounds pro it's because it is. If you don't generate your sponsors money, don't ask for any. Gear, equipment, it costs a bit less than retail (say 40% below the retail value, maybe 60-80% if they get it at employee/team price), but it still costs the sponsors money.
I joke that my kit cost me about $4000 because that's what I shelled out to buy it all - my teammates paid me for whatever they wanted, and since I ordered extra, I'm probably sitting on $2k worth of team clothing. The good thing is that I have a few extra jerseys which don't have holes in them.
Um, hey, you want to buy a kit?
If you make your sponsor money, help run the team, or you put a lot of sweat equity into the team and they still don't comp you, then you go elsewhere. Until then, if all you contribute to the team is to show up at the annual meeting and perhaps race at the team's race (they do hold a race, don't they?), then, honestly, should you really expect them to be so generous to you? Think about that the next time you go for a ride and the guy who runs the team can't make it "because he's busy".
The racer was a Cat 5.
Apparently his biggest concern (and, to be completely honest, it used to be one of mine) was the cost of a team kit. His original team charged "full price" for a kit, the new team "discounted" it. When I made $5.75 an hour (before taxes and stuff), to pay $40 for a team jersey seemed astonishingly expensive. I'd say most riders are not in the same situation, save the high school and perhaps some college students. Those with virtually any sort of full time job should be able to sacrifice one night out for a kit. Figure if you save yourself 8 or 10 pricey beers you'll have a jersey, maybe a couple cases of the cheap stuff. Or a few pizzas.
Now, one of the things that I think escaped the questioning racer's learning curve is what a jersey actually costs. For example, could he define what constitutes full price for a jersey or bib short?
For that matter, can you?
One unspecified company will sell you a jersey with unlimited colors for $45 plus shipping, about $50 total. Verge Sports, for a 3 color, will run a bit more - $68 for a small order, with extra for some other stuff, usually they give you a break, so call it $68 even with the extras. Not sure about shipping. Even if the team ordered the same looking gear from the two different companies and sold it at "cost", the "price" would be different to the end user.
The difference? My Unspecified stuff I bought in the last two years is wrecked. Granted, this quality level is fine for a team that changes sponsors like you (should) change underwear. You get tons of colors, gear that will work for a season, and along with low minimums, you can outfit a pretty smart looking team.
On the other hand, my Verge stuff from 5 years ago is fine - in fact I wear the Verge stuff regularly since my "other" brand of bibs ripped at some bib seams, my SS jerseys ripped at seams, and my knickers bib area is also ripping. The only thing that hasn't ripped is the jacket. And before you crack the fat jokes, they're the same size as the Verge stuff. But believe me, when I first put the stuff on and it disintegrated on me, I thought "wtf I didn't gain that much weight".
So, let's pretend you're in the same position as that anonymous Cat 5 at the beginning of the post. For argument's sake, we'll say you're either a Cat 5 or 4, maybe even a 3. You're considering jumping ship for a team with better "benefits".
Have you considered helping out your current team? Help with the team clothing order or promote a race or something? Figure out why the team needs to charge "full price" for their kit. See what goes into trying to organize a team, handle various racer's requests for reimbursement or whatnot. Or worse, go after a fellow racer for not paying for the $500 in team gear they picked up but haven't paid for. It's amazing what slackers some of those really nice riders end up being.
Until you've done all that, I'd stick with whatever friendly team you seem to have found. Join a team for the racers, not for the shwag. You want schwag? Ask for stuff from the team you can't really ever get, like, say, a pass through the shop to Interbike. And bring a big backpack for schwag in Sept, and cash for all the race DVDs you could ever want (and socks and whoever else sells stuff at the show without checking if you have an account).
But from the team? I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Personally I don't think even Cat 2s should be comp'ed in an arbitrary fashion. I think a racer should be comp'ed only if they can generate as much or more revenue to the comping agent. In other words, if a racer gets $1000 in goods from a sponsor, it's because the racer can generate the team $1000 in net profit, either from tv or newspaper appearances (they have a definitive value per second or per column inch), in additional sales (need $2-3k of sales to cover $1k in clothing), or in bringing in additional
customers to the sponsor (equal to spending $1000 for direct mail coupons or an ad in a local paper). Can the racer get 100,000 eyeballs a day on the sponsor's name? Well, then they could justify asking for $1000. If not, then not.
And if they flip off a motorist or run a light... well, what's negative publicity cost?
"Yeah, I don't know who that jerkball is on the bike but apparently he's sponsored by So-and-So - I'm going to call them up and give them a piece of my mind."
If this attitude sounds pro it's because it is. If you don't generate your sponsors money, don't ask for any. Gear, equipment, it costs a bit less than retail (say 40% below the retail value, maybe 60-80% if they get it at employee/team price), but it still costs the sponsors money.
I joke that my kit cost me about $4000 because that's what I shelled out to buy it all - my teammates paid me for whatever they wanted, and since I ordered extra, I'm probably sitting on $2k worth of team clothing. The good thing is that I have a few extra jerseys which don't have holes in them.
Um, hey, you want to buy a kit?
If you make your sponsor money, help run the team, or you put a lot of sweat equity into the team and they still don't comp you, then you go elsewhere. Until then, if all you contribute to the team is to show up at the annual meeting and perhaps race at the team's race (they do hold a race, don't they?), then, honestly, should you really expect them to be so generous to you? Think about that the next time you go for a ride and the guy who runs the team can't make it "because he's busy".
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Racing - Genetics > Effort
At some point somewhere in the vast world of the Internet someone said "Anyone could be a Cat 1 if they had the time and energy to train right."
Or stated in a different way - "You can train yourself to be a great rider". If you're not a Cat 1 you're just training wrong. You need to train better, commit more time, etc etc etc.
Hm.
I would disagree. In fact, the evidence I see seems to refute that quite clearly. If it were true, all these extremely dedicated amateur racers would be lining up at the Tour. Or perhaps a smaller race - the Philly race. There's no questioning the serious attitude hundreds or thousands of racers use to approach their racing. In a world that rewards effort, they should all be Cat 1s.
But this is not the case.
It's because genetics is the only way you have a chance of being a pro. Genetics decides whether or not you have the potential. It's up to you to decide what to do with it. Who knows, maybe my genetic make up ideally suits me for Judo or barrel rolling or eating hotdogs. I don't know how well I'd do in those other things but I know that as a bike racer, well, I'm not ideally suited for what I would consider to be "normal racing".
C'mon, you say, this can't be right.
Let's use a little more illustrative method of explaining what I mean. It's pretty simple.
Have you ever ridden with a Cat 1?
It's incredible how hard they can go, for how long, and not consider it a "big" effort. In my better days I'd test in the mid 60s to low 70s in primitive (but run by medical students) VO2 max tests. My hematocrit has been as high as 49.x% naturally. In leadout situations (group sprint rides at SUNY Purchase NY) I'd regularly hit 46 mph (along with one or two other guys). I managed a 7 mile time trial at 25.5 mph but that was the best I could do. My high school afternoons were spent riding, my college schedule (for four years) and my job (at a shop) for 7 years was based around my racing.
And the closest I came to being a Category 1 racer was when I declined an offer to upgrade to Cat 2. At the time I felt that my second place that day in a Cat 2-3 race wasn't worth it because the field consisted of about 15 racers due to terrible weather. If I could place in a bigger race, I'd be worthy.
I struggled to try and peak higher and raced pretty consistently for the next three or four years, placing regularly but never really making a big impression required to upgrade.
The best I could hope for in a Cat 1-3 race was perhaps a place. I got 6th or something once, and another time crashed while sitting perhaps 5th or 6th with 3 turns to go, but that's about it. I'd be turning myself inside out to maintain my position and my friend (a Pro at the time) would glide by, mouth closed, 53x12, and just roll away from me.
That particular memory is particularly striking. He rolled to the front of the field and right past it, soloing off on his own and winning by a couple minutes. He had no teammates to block for him, no break companions to share the work. He single handedly held off a Pro-3 field for some insane amount of time, 30 or 40 minutes. I didn't even know he'd gone off the front so I didn't help, and there were a lot of guys really anxious to catch him.
He's a supremely talented rider who started about when I did - at about age 12 or 13. He went to a Junior training camp in Colorado around that age (which I never did - because I never stood out like he did). One of his "camp mates" may ring a bell for you racing fans out there - Christian Vandevelde, the CSC racer going to Slipstream.
And as a pro? Well, let's put it this way - Vandevelde's gotten a lot more press than my friend.
I'm not dissing him. In fact, I've always been a great fan of his racing, crossing my fingers for him when he went to Europe, going to Philly when he raced there to cheer for him. But when it came down to crunch time, when the contracts were handed out, there were other racers out there who were better.
Genetically I'm perfect to be a Cat 3 flat or slightly rolling course racer - hills that you can power over but don't require to actually settle into a climbing rhythm. This means I can use my power to get over the hill, force others to eat wind (and therefore keep the pace down), and my aerobic system is never taxed to failure. Then I can use my sprint to place.
On the other hand I've never finished a road race with the main field, even when I weighed 112 lbs. Yet at that weight I could still outsprint most anyone at the SUNY Purchase sprints - and that included a whole lot of Cat 2s and even Cat 1s. Genetically, it seems, I was built to sprint on bikes.
There's talent and there's talent. When I was a Junior there was this kid George who raced a lot of the races I did. He was from NY, tall, lanky, who attacked at the gun and rode away from the field, usually with his brother Richard. They'd cross the line hand in hand after lapping the field or something. No one could touch him, no one. It was incredibly demoralizing to see him warming up before a race. I would start hoping they get away early so the field would ease up quickly - if they didn't get away early, the pace was totally insane until they finally got away.
I suppose that at the same time it couldn't have been very exciting for him to win so easily. It didn't surprise me to learn he'd gotten chosen for the National team in his late teens. I was thrilled to see him on TV in the Tour du Pont. And now, in the eve of his career, he's recently signed for the entity now know as High Road Sports. He moved further south at some point but his name is still recognizable.
Hincapie.
The fact that most racers are 3s and 4s is no coincidence. With luck, some talent, you can get to 2s. But to get to a 1? That's no easy matter. In fact, it used to be that you had to have someone at USA Cycling's headquarters to approve your upgrade to Category 1.
So what makes a good racer a good racer? Can you measure something and see if you have it? Maybe your kid, or little sister, or someone else still growing?
There are a lot of things you can measure out relating to cycling performace. Heart rate, for example. But a low resting rate or a high max has no correlation to how you'll do as a racer.
Maybe hematocrit, or hemoglobin levels. If all you needed was a 49% hematocrit or a 16 hemoglobin, I'd be a pro. So that's out.
How about VO2 max, the amount of oxygen you can consume over a given amount of time? Using up x amount of oxygen will correlate to y amount of energy released. It seems pretty accurate for seeing how hard someone can work but it doesn't take into account weight. Close but no cigar.
Power? Crank the wattage and you'll be a pro, right? Well, not really. My high wattage sprint is barely able to break into the top 10 of a Cat 3 race. It ignores weight. But power is related to your potential as a cyclist though - it's one of two factors. So put that one down in your notebook.
The missing factor - weight.
Ultimately it all comes down to sustainable power and rider weight.
If you can sustain 400 watts indefinitely, you'll be a very good time trialer, a good workhorse, maybe a teammate that can drag the field along and keep a break in check.
If you can do that and weigh less than 150 pounds, well now. You are pro material.
Hit those mountainous climbs hard and you'll be at the front of a very, very elite field. No matter what the big guys try to do, if you're a 400w rider who weighs less than 150 pounds, you can dictate the pace on the big climbs. You could be anyone, no license, just out for a Sunday ride, but if ride at 400 watts and aren't very heavy, the simple fact is that there are very few people in the world that can keep up with you. Performance doesn't listen to your category, your VO2 max, your blood make up. High wattage in a lightweight package equals "strong rider".
Period.
That, unfortunately, takes a genetic foundation. Your building is limited to the strength of the foundation. You can't build the Empire State Building on top of a foundation designed for a 2500 square foot colonial. You need floors and floors of pillars and stuff below the ground to support the immense weight above it. Without the proper foundation, you won't be able to build a large structure.
Without genetics on your side, a racer will not be able to progress into the Pro ranks. It simply will not happen.
Therefore genetics > effort.
Or stated in a different way - "You can train yourself to be a great rider". If you're not a Cat 1 you're just training wrong. You need to train better, commit more time, etc etc etc.
Hm.
I would disagree. In fact, the evidence I see seems to refute that quite clearly. If it were true, all these extremely dedicated amateur racers would be lining up at the Tour. Or perhaps a smaller race - the Philly race. There's no questioning the serious attitude hundreds or thousands of racers use to approach their racing. In a world that rewards effort, they should all be Cat 1s.
But this is not the case.
It's because genetics is the only way you have a chance of being a pro. Genetics decides whether or not you have the potential. It's up to you to decide what to do with it. Who knows, maybe my genetic make up ideally suits me for Judo or barrel rolling or eating hotdogs. I don't know how well I'd do in those other things but I know that as a bike racer, well, I'm not ideally suited for what I would consider to be "normal racing".
C'mon, you say, this can't be right.
Let's use a little more illustrative method of explaining what I mean. It's pretty simple.
Have you ever ridden with a Cat 1?
It's incredible how hard they can go, for how long, and not consider it a "big" effort. In my better days I'd test in the mid 60s to low 70s in primitive (but run by medical students) VO2 max tests. My hematocrit has been as high as 49.x% naturally. In leadout situations (group sprint rides at SUNY Purchase NY) I'd regularly hit 46 mph (along with one or two other guys). I managed a 7 mile time trial at 25.5 mph but that was the best I could do. My high school afternoons were spent riding, my college schedule (for four years) and my job (at a shop) for 7 years was based around my racing.
And the closest I came to being a Category 1 racer was when I declined an offer to upgrade to Cat 2. At the time I felt that my second place that day in a Cat 2-3 race wasn't worth it because the field consisted of about 15 racers due to terrible weather. If I could place in a bigger race, I'd be worthy.
I struggled to try and peak higher and raced pretty consistently for the next three or four years, placing regularly but never really making a big impression required to upgrade.
The best I could hope for in a Cat 1-3 race was perhaps a place. I got 6th or something once, and another time crashed while sitting perhaps 5th or 6th with 3 turns to go, but that's about it. I'd be turning myself inside out to maintain my position and my friend (a Pro at the time) would glide by, mouth closed, 53x12, and just roll away from me.
That particular memory is particularly striking. He rolled to the front of the field and right past it, soloing off on his own and winning by a couple minutes. He had no teammates to block for him, no break companions to share the work. He single handedly held off a Pro-3 field for some insane amount of time, 30 or 40 minutes. I didn't even know he'd gone off the front so I didn't help, and there were a lot of guys really anxious to catch him.
He's a supremely talented rider who started about when I did - at about age 12 or 13. He went to a Junior training camp in Colorado around that age (which I never did - because I never stood out like he did). One of his "camp mates" may ring a bell for you racing fans out there - Christian Vandevelde, the CSC racer going to Slipstream.
And as a pro? Well, let's put it this way - Vandevelde's gotten a lot more press than my friend.
I'm not dissing him. In fact, I've always been a great fan of his racing, crossing my fingers for him when he went to Europe, going to Philly when he raced there to cheer for him. But when it came down to crunch time, when the contracts were handed out, there were other racers out there who were better.
Genetically I'm perfect to be a Cat 3 flat or slightly rolling course racer - hills that you can power over but don't require to actually settle into a climbing rhythm. This means I can use my power to get over the hill, force others to eat wind (and therefore keep the pace down), and my aerobic system is never taxed to failure. Then I can use my sprint to place.
On the other hand I've never finished a road race with the main field, even when I weighed 112 lbs. Yet at that weight I could still outsprint most anyone at the SUNY Purchase sprints - and that included a whole lot of Cat 2s and even Cat 1s. Genetically, it seems, I was built to sprint on bikes.
There's talent and there's talent. When I was a Junior there was this kid George who raced a lot of the races I did. He was from NY, tall, lanky, who attacked at the gun and rode away from the field, usually with his brother Richard. They'd cross the line hand in hand after lapping the field or something. No one could touch him, no one. It was incredibly demoralizing to see him warming up before a race. I would start hoping they get away early so the field would ease up quickly - if they didn't get away early, the pace was totally insane until they finally got away.
I suppose that at the same time it couldn't have been very exciting for him to win so easily. It didn't surprise me to learn he'd gotten chosen for the National team in his late teens. I was thrilled to see him on TV in the Tour du Pont. And now, in the eve of his career, he's recently signed for the entity now know as High Road Sports. He moved further south at some point but his name is still recognizable.
Hincapie.
The fact that most racers are 3s and 4s is no coincidence. With luck, some talent, you can get to 2s. But to get to a 1? That's no easy matter. In fact, it used to be that you had to have someone at USA Cycling's headquarters to approve your upgrade to Category 1.
So what makes a good racer a good racer? Can you measure something and see if you have it? Maybe your kid, or little sister, or someone else still growing?
There are a lot of things you can measure out relating to cycling performace. Heart rate, for example. But a low resting rate or a high max has no correlation to how you'll do as a racer.
Maybe hematocrit, or hemoglobin levels. If all you needed was a 49% hematocrit or a 16 hemoglobin, I'd be a pro. So that's out.
How about VO2 max, the amount of oxygen you can consume over a given amount of time? Using up x amount of oxygen will correlate to y amount of energy released. It seems pretty accurate for seeing how hard someone can work but it doesn't take into account weight. Close but no cigar.
Power? Crank the wattage and you'll be a pro, right? Well, not really. My high wattage sprint is barely able to break into the top 10 of a Cat 3 race. It ignores weight. But power is related to your potential as a cyclist though - it's one of two factors. So put that one down in your notebook.
The missing factor - weight.
Ultimately it all comes down to sustainable power and rider weight.
If you can sustain 400 watts indefinitely, you'll be a very good time trialer, a good workhorse, maybe a teammate that can drag the field along and keep a break in check.
If you can do that and weigh less than 150 pounds, well now. You are pro material.
Hit those mountainous climbs hard and you'll be at the front of a very, very elite field. No matter what the big guys try to do, if you're a 400w rider who weighs less than 150 pounds, you can dictate the pace on the big climbs. You could be anyone, no license, just out for a Sunday ride, but if ride at 400 watts and aren't very heavy, the simple fact is that there are very few people in the world that can keep up with you. Performance doesn't listen to your category, your VO2 max, your blood make up. High wattage in a lightweight package equals "strong rider".
Period.
That, unfortunately, takes a genetic foundation. Your building is limited to the strength of the foundation. You can't build the Empire State Building on top of a foundation designed for a 2500 square foot colonial. You need floors and floors of pillars and stuff below the ground to support the immense weight above it. Without the proper foundation, you won't be able to build a large structure.
Without genetics on your side, a racer will not be able to progress into the Pro ranks. It simply will not happen.
Therefore genetics > effort.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Life - So You Want to go into the Bike Biz?
So you want to live the bike shop dream? Wrench fancy bikes, have all sorts of goodies on display, talk to folks about how great this or that bike is all day? A wonderful life, right? In fact, I bet some of you would take this over sitting on the couch and having a beer.
If this was a movie, that's when you'd hear the "Screeeeeeeech" and everything skidding to a halt.
So, let me ask you again. Think a Clint Eastwood voice.
"You want to live the bike shop dream?"
Keep your day job.
Okay, that might be a bit harsh. But, in all seriousness, things aren't that easy in the bike biz. So here's how you figure out if you really want to do it. And you'll get some side benefits while you're at it.
First, call your favorite shop or two and ask if they want FREE help on the evenings and weekends. Free? That'll be you.
What's in it for you? In return you're requesting severe discounts on some items (think of some big ticket items you want to buy if you need to justify this free work). You will buy them from the shop. The discounts will not affect the shop bottom line - it might even help them by getting them free shipping on an order (or upgrade to expedited shipping, etc). Keep your day job, keep your almost free medical insurance, don't worry about someone suing you, don't worry about paying rent and utilities for the shop, and don't worry about some punk trying to steal things from you. Live the bike shop dream at the peak hours, help your shop out, and let them help you.
If, after a month or three of this, you still think it's cool, then start thinking about it seriously. You need a lot of cash to get a shop going so figure out how you'll get it - figure $100k would be good, more would be better. Right now I figure you need about $500-750k in cash. Know about business, accounting, and some of the basic laws of business in your state. That handles the financial stuff.
After that, it's straight forward - a bunch of money for rent/deposit, utilities, a nice aluminum bat to fend off yellow pages salespeople, and figure out some way of getting really smart and overqualified kids/students to work way below their payscale so they can be around bikes. Get credit lines with vendors and pay your bills on time (most shops don't - 80% or so, according to one industry number I saw).
Consider this too.
Are you the person that everyone, and I mean everyone, goes to for bike/accessory advice? This might even include people who are in the industry. Every shop needs a someone like that, a Guru if you will, and if you're not it, it'll cost a lot of money/favors/etc to get one that isn't lying through his teeth or has no clue what he's talking about.
A bike shop is simply a method to earn money. If you think that's the best way to earn money, then it's all good. If you love cycling and sharing your enthusiasm for cycling, post a lot of stuff on a forum or two, perhaps run a team or a race or a club or all of that, and volunteer at a shop you really like.
And earn your money elsewhere.
What's a bike shop cost, say to buy a shop? I've heard as little as $15k for a shop that had virtually no business in a small town that still has a hard time supporting an independent bike shop. One guy I know spent $350k starting up his shop and earned back $70k a year (and he was a business man first, a cyclist second). He left the business to return to the financial world and never looked back.
If you're buying a shop, I'd expect at least $100-120k for a shop which includes perhaps $50-70k in all sorts of inventory. Tooling and display stuff (slatwall, bike racks, slatwall hooks, lights, register, etc) alone is probably $10-12k wholesale per shop (meaning new - you could get it less used but that would take forever).
So some factors:
1. Gross income
2. Net income
3. Seasonality
4. Territories
5. Overall market
1. Gross income - the magic number for a shop with, say, a $7-8k monthly lease is to hit about $500-600k/year gross. Include payroll, utilities (electric - try air conditioning bills in the summer, heat, phone), insurance (liability, medical for the employees and yourself), web expenses, the chunk that Visa and Mastercard take out. There's more but I think that's the main stuff. I think at that rate it's $15-20k costs per month, and to make $20k, you need to sell about $50-60k of product (33-40% margin). That's every month, and in this area, with the lows each night for the next four nights to hit 19 degrees F (-7 deg C), well, you can imagine that folks aren't lined up the door thinking about doing a 5 hour ride.
2. Net income - 5% margin is considered pretty good for the owner. $500k = $25k for you. Again, you have to hit the magic number first, then it's gravy. For example, if you sell $50k of product in a month, you cover your $20k expenses. If you sell another $50k, you still have a $20k margin - but you've paid for all your fixed costs. So the $20k margin? It's yours. Minus the taxes and stuff.
3. Seasonality - In Oct, Jan, and Feb, shops in the area can do as little as $15k/month gross. You make all your money from March till August. September is like you dropped into a ditch. Think Hincapie at Paris Roubaix. December when you try to chase back on - it can save you or break you. Catch on and you're good till the sprint. I mean Spring. Don't, and, well, hopefully you have a really big rainy day fund. That $20k in expenses happens every month, whether or not there's good weather out there.
4. Territories. Territories go hand in hand with big vendors (bike companies). Bike companies try and limit the number of shops opening up in a particular area - it wouldn't do two neighboring shops any good if they both carried the same lines. Most vendors will extend you their lines to you if they're there there for the previous owners.
Hey I used all three "their/they're/there" in one sentence! Some English person verify it's okay, please.
Word games aside, to get a credit line, you have to put something up. Like in poker. "Ante up!". What do you have that's worth at least $50-100k? Hm, let me think. If you're driving a Ferrari or that sweet McLaren SLR I saw back in September you probably don't need a bike shop to buy things for your cycling habit. So let's think of what normal people have that's worth that much.
I got it.
Your house.
Sobering, isn't it. Usually a getting a credit line means putting a personal guarantee on that amount. In these financially shaky days I don't think companies take no for an answer. So you've just entered a big game of poker. Win, you get a 30% discount on that sweet set of carbon fiber wheels. Lose? You move out of your house. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
Think about that.
4a. Related to territories is the internet. If you don't have an internet presence, you'll get hurt at some level. You'll still get bread/butter customers but not the enthusiasts. If you have an active forum or participate in one of the bigger forums out there, you can build a reputation for yourself. You need to be there at 1 AM for the guy just jonesing to buy something, and if he hits your site and all it says is your hours and what brands you carry, you're not feeding his habit. There are a couple sites and features I've seen that allow your site to cater to such an enthusiast, all while you're asleep at home. Or, if things are busy, wrenching away in the back room at 2 AM.
You're not supposed to sell over the internet but my last bike was an internet bike. The listing stated "Used" but it was simply built up and then packed up. It's less used than a new bike in a bike shop - I don't think they test rode it more than a hundred yards. You can use this tactic to increase your volume by blowing out bikes at discounts. Volume helps you with your discount level, free shipping, etc. It may not make you money but it might help you save money. You know what freight is on a 200 bike order? Say you ordered an extra 50 bikes and blew them all out - and in return you saved a few grand in shipping? It might be worth it.
5. Overall market - how is retail? Are people buying bikes? Helmets? Is riding popular? Can you get into schools and stuff and do helmet talks, safety talks, maybe "sponsor" the police department? Whatever it is, you need a market. If the town is not buying a lot, then you're done.
5a. Who are your competitors? In the area I know best, there's a family shop, a super big outdoors shop, a high end road shop, and a ski shop that sells bike shop bikes. Who are they aiming at? Where are the holes? In war, you don't attack the enemy's strongpoints - you attack where they're weak and outflank them. The bike business is the same - if someone has a particular market, you need to be in a slightly different one.
Some things on the bike industry:
1. No one has money in the business except the vendors so they're the ones who need to extend credit to the shops. Think about it this way - you think you're in a position to finance Trek? If you are, you won't need a shop - you could just buy your own bike company. Apparently, at some point, 80% of shops pay 30 days late or later. Vendors share this info with each other (except Specialized) and if you get on someone's bad side, you'll find doors closed everywhere. They actually have an industry credit meeting prior to the Interbike tradeshow. It's not official but they apparently spend a day or two comparing notes on good and bad shops. I don't know if they still do this but they definitely did this before.
2. Since everything is bought on credit, the vendor encourages you to pay earlier. Typically there's a discount if you do COD (and everyone will force you to do that for a bit). Maybe 2%. The larger your order, the more extended the terms. Cannondale, about 10 years ago, would ship in September and the payment due date would be March. They gave you 9% discount if you paid in Sept or something, and like 7% for Oct. By Feb it was 1%. And if you got more than, say, $100k, you got free shipping. By doing this they tie up your money so you can't buy as many Specializeds or Treks. I'm sure everyone is doing the same thing now.
3. Problem is most vendors manufacture based on pre-season orders because those are guaranteed sales. If you're Cannondale and you got a 10,000 total preseason order of SuperSix bikes, will you make 50,000? Probably not. It makes more sense for them to make something close to that number. Good for them. But say you can't keep them in stock and you want another 50 of them. Cannondale may not have anymore. Now you're stuck. You can trade with other shops but courtesy, at least back then, is you pay 5 or 10% for their "stocking" expenses, plus assembly if they assembled it already.
4. Pay - I'm not sure what pay is in different areas but one shop I know, at its peak, got the owner $60-70k/year. He sold the shop and went back to managing a hedge fund - he said he made as much in the fund in a month as he did in the shop in a year. I would expect less than that number - maybe $50k. Remember, if you pay yourself $1k/week, you need to sell about $3k/week just for your pay (not including the 7.68% social security, med insurance, liability, etc etc). If you hire a good manager ($40k ought to do it, you're looking at $800/wk or $2400 in sales per week to pay for the guy.
5. Tooling etc - If you buy a shop it'll have most of it. Otherwise you'll have to buy everything. It'll run you maybe $10k, maybe more. In addition you'll have to get new tools as they come out, suspension, fork, BB tools, cassette tools, chain, etc. Tools inevitably go missing or wear out or break so you'll be replacing them along the way.
6. You need a good service manager - one that keeps things in order, can run the repairs (triage, etc), doesn't overbook, etc. Now and then you get into the "We need to pull a late night" but it shouldn't be all the time.
7. Sales - if you base it on commission, you can pay people for performance. In general it'll be hard to find people for the floor or for mechanical work. I think kids in high school will want $10/hour. College maybe $12-14/hour. Plus the discount (always paid in full, or they work toward it - better if they pay for it, less cash out of your pocket).
8. Guru - all shops need a guru. Here's the scene. Someone comes in and asks "Hey, how do I replace the whatzit in the whosit? I bought the bike back in 1974." Then the kids grin and say "Hey Guru, can you help us out here?" And the Guru shows up. You need that guy, whoever it is. Guru will probably be your store manager too, sales and service.
9. You can't buy just one Zipp wheel. I think minimum buy in for 2007 was $10k in wheels. A lot of "cool" companies are like that - high buy ins. So those carbon wheels you wanted to buy for yourself? They'll cost you $10k up front. I can buy them a set for a little less than that.
10. There are internet only companies out there. They sell at wholesale to the retail. It's harder to support but for commodities (i.e. generic superlight carbon frame, generic aero wheels, etc) they will dig into a shop's margin.
What I've told people in the past is that if you want to be in the bike biz, get the money for the shop. Put it in the bank. Then volunteer at a shop you like on evenings and weekends. Ask for an employee discount but otherwise no pay. The shops are dying for evening and weekend help.
Employee discount doesn't hurt anyone, and if you can make yourself useful selling helmets or bikes or just shooting the breeze with someone on the floor (which frees up the other guys to do repairs, build, etc), you'll do the shop good. You keep your real job, you don't worry about liability or health or rent or upcoming bills, and you still get to live the bike shop dream.
I had people like what I just described at my shop. One guy in particular loved bikes, did IT, and I paid him to work evenings and weekends - he even opened the shop for me on Sundays in my burnt out days. I also had a kid who I didn't want to pay because money was too tight and I couldn't justify paying him over his learning curve months. His parents liked me so much though that they paid him to work for me. I also asked for help from the team that I sponsored - and on some days I'd have 8 or 9 guys talking about roof racks, helmets, pumps, bottle cages, and why the funny shorts are so comfy to customers all day. It was fun but I lost 10 years of "real life salary" doing it.
Bike shops are hard. But if you make it work, there's a reward.
At the end of a long day, we'd shut the doors, the lock echoing across the suddenly empty shop. We'd pull our bikes off the floor (employee bikes sit out there to prove we sell what we ride), fiddle with them just a bit, kit up, and go for a kick ass ride.
If this was a movie, that's when you'd hear the "Screeeeeeeech" and everything skidding to a halt.
So, let me ask you again. Think a Clint Eastwood voice.
"You want to live the bike shop dream?"
Keep your day job.
Okay, that might be a bit harsh. But, in all seriousness, things aren't that easy in the bike biz. So here's how you figure out if you really want to do it. And you'll get some side benefits while you're at it.
First, call your favorite shop or two and ask if they want FREE help on the evenings and weekends. Free? That'll be you.
What's in it for you? In return you're requesting severe discounts on some items (think of some big ticket items you want to buy if you need to justify this free work). You will buy them from the shop. The discounts will not affect the shop bottom line - it might even help them by getting them free shipping on an order (or upgrade to expedited shipping, etc). Keep your day job, keep your almost free medical insurance, don't worry about someone suing you, don't worry about paying rent and utilities for the shop, and don't worry about some punk trying to steal things from you. Live the bike shop dream at the peak hours, help your shop out, and let them help you.
If, after a month or three of this, you still think it's cool, then start thinking about it seriously. You need a lot of cash to get a shop going so figure out how you'll get it - figure $100k would be good, more would be better. Right now I figure you need about $500-750k in cash. Know about business, accounting, and some of the basic laws of business in your state. That handles the financial stuff.
After that, it's straight forward - a bunch of money for rent/deposit, utilities, a nice aluminum bat to fend off yellow pages salespeople, and figure out some way of getting really smart and overqualified kids/students to work way below their payscale so they can be around bikes. Get credit lines with vendors and pay your bills on time (most shops don't - 80% or so, according to one industry number I saw).
Consider this too.
Are you the person that everyone, and I mean everyone, goes to for bike/accessory advice? This might even include people who are in the industry. Every shop needs a someone like that, a Guru if you will, and if you're not it, it'll cost a lot of money/favors/etc to get one that isn't lying through his teeth or has no clue what he's talking about.
A bike shop is simply a method to earn money. If you think that's the best way to earn money, then it's all good. If you love cycling and sharing your enthusiasm for cycling, post a lot of stuff on a forum or two, perhaps run a team or a race or a club or all of that, and volunteer at a shop you really like.
And earn your money elsewhere.
What's a bike shop cost, say to buy a shop? I've heard as little as $15k for a shop that had virtually no business in a small town that still has a hard time supporting an independent bike shop. One guy I know spent $350k starting up his shop and earned back $70k a year (and he was a business man first, a cyclist second). He left the business to return to the financial world and never looked back.
If you're buying a shop, I'd expect at least $100-120k for a shop which includes perhaps $50-70k in all sorts of inventory. Tooling and display stuff (slatwall, bike racks, slatwall hooks, lights, register, etc) alone is probably $10-12k wholesale per shop (meaning new - you could get it less used but that would take forever).
So some factors:
1. Gross income
2. Net income
3. Seasonality
4. Territories
5. Overall market
1. Gross income - the magic number for a shop with, say, a $7-8k monthly lease is to hit about $500-600k/year gross. Include payroll, utilities (electric - try air conditioning bills in the summer, heat, phone), insurance (liability, medical for the employees and yourself), web expenses, the chunk that Visa and Mastercard take out. There's more but I think that's the main stuff. I think at that rate it's $15-20k costs per month, and to make $20k, you need to sell about $50-60k of product (33-40% margin). That's every month, and in this area, with the lows each night for the next four nights to hit 19 degrees F (-7 deg C), well, you can imagine that folks aren't lined up the door thinking about doing a 5 hour ride.
2. Net income - 5% margin is considered pretty good for the owner. $500k = $25k for you. Again, you have to hit the magic number first, then it's gravy. For example, if you sell $50k of product in a month, you cover your $20k expenses. If you sell another $50k, you still have a $20k margin - but you've paid for all your fixed costs. So the $20k margin? It's yours. Minus the taxes and stuff.
3. Seasonality - In Oct, Jan, and Feb, shops in the area can do as little as $15k/month gross. You make all your money from March till August. September is like you dropped into a ditch. Think Hincapie at Paris Roubaix. December when you try to chase back on - it can save you or break you. Catch on and you're good till the sprint. I mean Spring. Don't, and, well, hopefully you have a really big rainy day fund. That $20k in expenses happens every month, whether or not there's good weather out there.
4. Territories. Territories go hand in hand with big vendors (bike companies). Bike companies try and limit the number of shops opening up in a particular area - it wouldn't do two neighboring shops any good if they both carried the same lines. Most vendors will extend you their lines to you if they're there there for the previous owners.
Hey I used all three "their/they're/there" in one sentence! Some English person verify it's okay, please.
Word games aside, to get a credit line, you have to put something up. Like in poker. "Ante up!". What do you have that's worth at least $50-100k? Hm, let me think. If you're driving a Ferrari or that sweet McLaren SLR I saw back in September you probably don't need a bike shop to buy things for your cycling habit. So let's think of what normal people have that's worth that much.
I got it.
Your house.
Sobering, isn't it. Usually a getting a credit line means putting a personal guarantee on that amount. In these financially shaky days I don't think companies take no for an answer. So you've just entered a big game of poker. Win, you get a 30% discount on that sweet set of carbon fiber wheels. Lose? You move out of your house. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
Think about that.
4a. Related to territories is the internet. If you don't have an internet presence, you'll get hurt at some level. You'll still get bread/butter customers but not the enthusiasts. If you have an active forum or participate in one of the bigger forums out there, you can build a reputation for yourself. You need to be there at 1 AM for the guy just jonesing to buy something, and if he hits your site and all it says is your hours and what brands you carry, you're not feeding his habit. There are a couple sites and features I've seen that allow your site to cater to such an enthusiast, all while you're asleep at home. Or, if things are busy, wrenching away in the back room at 2 AM.
You're not supposed to sell over the internet but my last bike was an internet bike. The listing stated "Used" but it was simply built up and then packed up. It's less used than a new bike in a bike shop - I don't think they test rode it more than a hundred yards. You can use this tactic to increase your volume by blowing out bikes at discounts. Volume helps you with your discount level, free shipping, etc. It may not make you money but it might help you save money. You know what freight is on a 200 bike order? Say you ordered an extra 50 bikes and blew them all out - and in return you saved a few grand in shipping? It might be worth it.
5. Overall market - how is retail? Are people buying bikes? Helmets? Is riding popular? Can you get into schools and stuff and do helmet talks, safety talks, maybe "sponsor" the police department? Whatever it is, you need a market. If the town is not buying a lot, then you're done.
5a. Who are your competitors? In the area I know best, there's a family shop, a super big outdoors shop, a high end road shop, and a ski shop that sells bike shop bikes. Who are they aiming at? Where are the holes? In war, you don't attack the enemy's strongpoints - you attack where they're weak and outflank them. The bike business is the same - if someone has a particular market, you need to be in a slightly different one.
Some things on the bike industry:
1. No one has money in the business except the vendors so they're the ones who need to extend credit to the shops. Think about it this way - you think you're in a position to finance Trek? If you are, you won't need a shop - you could just buy your own bike company. Apparently, at some point, 80% of shops pay 30 days late or later. Vendors share this info with each other (except Specialized) and if you get on someone's bad side, you'll find doors closed everywhere. They actually have an industry credit meeting prior to the Interbike tradeshow. It's not official but they apparently spend a day or two comparing notes on good and bad shops. I don't know if they still do this but they definitely did this before.
2. Since everything is bought on credit, the vendor encourages you to pay earlier. Typically there's a discount if you do COD (and everyone will force you to do that for a bit). Maybe 2%. The larger your order, the more extended the terms. Cannondale, about 10 years ago, would ship in September and the payment due date would be March. They gave you 9% discount if you paid in Sept or something, and like 7% for Oct. By Feb it was 1%. And if you got more than, say, $100k, you got free shipping. By doing this they tie up your money so you can't buy as many Specializeds or Treks. I'm sure everyone is doing the same thing now.
3. Problem is most vendors manufacture based on pre-season orders because those are guaranteed sales. If you're Cannondale and you got a 10,000 total preseason order of SuperSix bikes, will you make 50,000? Probably not. It makes more sense for them to make something close to that number. Good for them. But say you can't keep them in stock and you want another 50 of them. Cannondale may not have anymore. Now you're stuck. You can trade with other shops but courtesy, at least back then, is you pay 5 or 10% for their "stocking" expenses, plus assembly if they assembled it already.
4. Pay - I'm not sure what pay is in different areas but one shop I know, at its peak, got the owner $60-70k/year. He sold the shop and went back to managing a hedge fund - he said he made as much in the fund in a month as he did in the shop in a year. I would expect less than that number - maybe $50k. Remember, if you pay yourself $1k/week, you need to sell about $3k/week just for your pay (not including the 7.68% social security, med insurance, liability, etc etc). If you hire a good manager ($40k ought to do it, you're looking at $800/wk or $2400 in sales per week to pay for the guy.
5. Tooling etc - If you buy a shop it'll have most of it. Otherwise you'll have to buy everything. It'll run you maybe $10k, maybe more. In addition you'll have to get new tools as they come out, suspension, fork, BB tools, cassette tools, chain, etc. Tools inevitably go missing or wear out or break so you'll be replacing them along the way.
6. You need a good service manager - one that keeps things in order, can run the repairs (triage, etc), doesn't overbook, etc. Now and then you get into the "We need to pull a late night" but it shouldn't be all the time.
7. Sales - if you base it on commission, you can pay people for performance. In general it'll be hard to find people for the floor or for mechanical work. I think kids in high school will want $10/hour. College maybe $12-14/hour. Plus the discount (always paid in full, or they work toward it - better if they pay for it, less cash out of your pocket).
8. Guru - all shops need a guru. Here's the scene. Someone comes in and asks "Hey, how do I replace the whatzit in the whosit? I bought the bike back in 1974." Then the kids grin and say "Hey Guru, can you help us out here?" And the Guru shows up. You need that guy, whoever it is. Guru will probably be your store manager too, sales and service.
9. You can't buy just one Zipp wheel. I think minimum buy in for 2007 was $10k in wheels. A lot of "cool" companies are like that - high buy ins. So those carbon wheels you wanted to buy for yourself? They'll cost you $10k up front. I can buy them a set for a little less than that.
10. There are internet only companies out there. They sell at wholesale to the retail. It's harder to support but for commodities (i.e. generic superlight carbon frame, generic aero wheels, etc) they will dig into a shop's margin.
What I've told people in the past is that if you want to be in the bike biz, get the money for the shop. Put it in the bank. Then volunteer at a shop you like on evenings and weekends. Ask for an employee discount but otherwise no pay. The shops are dying for evening and weekend help.
Employee discount doesn't hurt anyone, and if you can make yourself useful selling helmets or bikes or just shooting the breeze with someone on the floor (which frees up the other guys to do repairs, build, etc), you'll do the shop good. You keep your real job, you don't worry about liability or health or rent or upcoming bills, and you still get to live the bike shop dream.
I had people like what I just described at my shop. One guy in particular loved bikes, did IT, and I paid him to work evenings and weekends - he even opened the shop for me on Sundays in my burnt out days. I also had a kid who I didn't want to pay because money was too tight and I couldn't justify paying him over his learning curve months. His parents liked me so much though that they paid him to work for me. I also asked for help from the team that I sponsored - and on some days I'd have 8 or 9 guys talking about roof racks, helmets, pumps, bottle cages, and why the funny shorts are so comfy to customers all day. It was fun but I lost 10 years of "real life salary" doing it.
Bike shops are hard. But if you make it work, there's a reward.
At the end of a long day, we'd shut the doors, the lock echoing across the suddenly empty shop. We'd pull our bikes off the floor (employee bikes sit out there to prove we sell what we ride), fiddle with them just a bit, kit up, and go for a kick ass ride.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Bethel Spring Series - Technology
I've threatened to try and improve both the racer and promoter experience at the Bethel Spring Series. One of the things which really impressed me last year was Jonathan Adler's "live" updates during the torrential downpour on April 15th. Until recently such a thing would have been close to impossible, if only because there was only a very weak cell signal in the area. In 2007 we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the course and found ourselves with a strong cell signal. I figure someone finally sold out and let the carriers put a bazillion antennas on their property nearby.
For the racers, this means a few things. Probably the most important thing - your cell phones work! So if you need to call home to report that you just won, feel free. Or, if things didn't go so well for you, well, the phones will work then too. And for those who have broadband air cards (that's what we call them at work - I don't know what they're supposed to be called), you can browse the 'Net while you're waiting for your race, so if you're leaving home while one of the Classics is just getting started, you may be able to follow along on your laptop at the race course.
For the promoters, the air card means something completely different - a way to update the website with results while still at the race.
Okay, that isn't really that innovative. I mean the big boys like Cyclingnews or Velonews do it all the time. But for the promoters, especially the one that does the results, it's very significant because it allows the results guy to post results while at the race. This saves said guy from having to type things up after returning home.
Since said guy is moi, this is a significant development.
I alluded to this card idea already so it's sort of old hat. The air card idea had a catch though - such an air card is useless without a computer that can utilize it. I briefly contemplated setting up a rig so I could carry my desktop in the van - a mini office if you will. But such a thing is a bit difficult to set-up, especially in our space limited van. Plus desktops aren't designed to be moved around a lot so they're not quite as receptive to bouncing around in a van. Laptops get abusive testing - dropped from a desk, coffee poured onto its keyboard, screen jabbed by an errant pen. Their hard drives are more shock resistant, just like the rest of the chassis/components, and it won't mind a bit of moisture. Desktops were good for desks.
I rapidly concluded that I need to buy a laptop for this work (brilliant, right?). A few factors helped in coming to this decision. First, I've been eyeing newer laptops since I resurrected an old 700 MHz (yes, 0.7 GHz) laptop, building it with a reasonable hard drive, 500 MB of RAM, and XP. It works fine if you don't mind waiting for type to appear, the cursor to move, and can view things in something like 256k colors. 10 years ago this thing would have been worth a fortune. Now it's barely able to browse the web (I disable Java to help it along - it's that bad). So I knew that a new laptop was sort of necessary. I placed a "perceived" value on such a laptop - a figure that I felt a laptop should cost. My number ended up at the $1000 range.
Second, this is the pre-Christmas "blow out sale" time. With retailers anxious that people are more worried about their mortgages than their gift-shopping, they've been slashing prices and trying to draw shoppers in, even before Thanksgiving ended - to open from 9 PM to midnight on Thanksgiving evening, that's desperate. To think that I was considering going out there, well, I won't comment on that. I did wake up at 4 AM the next morning to drive to Warwick, RI (and no, I wasn't staying at home, so it wasn't that far) to buy a $450 or $500 laptop. At half my perceived value, this was worth a shot. I got there before the 5 AM opening time and found myself in a packed parking lot with at least a hundred people in line. So much for that idea. I resigned myself to spending in the $650-$700 range and bought what seems to be a nice HP with all sorts of cool features. The two important features: a big screen for registration and the ability to edit html using NVU. Other significant features include video editing CPU power (possibly for finishline camera use), built in wireless (so the air card can use the single PCMCIA slot), and two hard drive bays (so I can eventually run a mirrored disk setup).
Note: Although the laptop came with Vista, it may or may not stay. I may be converting the old laptop to a much more CPU friendly Linux operating system, possibly one that doesn't require a hard drive, freeing up the XP Pro license currently running on it for this new HP (and the harddrive for a second drive on the HP). Although eventually I'd like to run Linux for everything, the reality is that I'm used to XP and don't want to make things more difficult for me. The goal, after all, is to make things easier.
Third, I could do a post on the laptop.
Okay, I'm just kidding.
Seriously though, there's an element of "this is work" or "this is play" when I'm editing or working on Bethel stuff on either my personal or work computers. By isolating a single computer for Bethel (and I've decided to expand that to "Bike Stuff"), the laptop will be my go to machine whenever I need to do work on the site.
There are other advantages for using just the laptop for bike stuff. With my home computers (two which I actively use), my work computer (yes, I edited pages on that), and a sorry attempt at editing pages on the old laptop, I always ran the risk of not updating the correct version of the page. By using a dedicated computer for Bethel, I didn't have to worry about version control for the web pages.
In the past I've updated a page, uploaded it, and then realized I uploaded a modified old page - so the uploaded page was a mix of regressive and progressive information. Not only that but the only version of the original page was sitting on a computer 50 miles away, so I had to recreate the page (or wait till I got to the other computer - home or office) until I fixed things.
When I updated a page incorrectly while in California... well, let me just say that I was extremely unhappy. With the laptop being the sole source of page editing, I know that when I update a page, it really is updated. Since I usually travel to do a spring training camp or two, having a decent laptop will enable me to get things done while recovering from my latest ride.
Part of the laptop's duty will be blog posting too, so this is the first post from the new laptop. Cool, eh?
I've been thinking of more things for Bethel as well. In fact, in a sleepless (most-of-the) night, I ended up scrawling ideas and plans across eleven (!) pages of paper. Even for Mister List-Maker, that's a lot of stuff. Realistically one or two pages will become reality, but if they do, it's a page or two of things which will make the Bethel Spring Series experience a better one for everyone there, both us as the promoters and you as the racers.
And ultimately, that's my goal.
For the racers, this means a few things. Probably the most important thing - your cell phones work! So if you need to call home to report that you just won, feel free. Or, if things didn't go so well for you, well, the phones will work then too. And for those who have broadband air cards (that's what we call them at work - I don't know what they're supposed to be called), you can browse the 'Net while you're waiting for your race, so if you're leaving home while one of the Classics is just getting started, you may be able to follow along on your laptop at the race course.
For the promoters, the air card means something completely different - a way to update the website with results while still at the race.
Okay, that isn't really that innovative. I mean the big boys like Cyclingnews or Velonews do it all the time. But for the promoters, especially the one that does the results, it's very significant because it allows the results guy to post results while at the race. This saves said guy from having to type things up after returning home.
Since said guy is moi, this is a significant development.
I alluded to this card idea already so it's sort of old hat. The air card idea had a catch though - such an air card is useless without a computer that can utilize it. I briefly contemplated setting up a rig so I could carry my desktop in the van - a mini office if you will. But such a thing is a bit difficult to set-up, especially in our space limited van. Plus desktops aren't designed to be moved around a lot so they're not quite as receptive to bouncing around in a van. Laptops get abusive testing - dropped from a desk, coffee poured onto its keyboard, screen jabbed by an errant pen. Their hard drives are more shock resistant, just like the rest of the chassis/components, and it won't mind a bit of moisture. Desktops were good for desks.
I rapidly concluded that I need to buy a laptop for this work (brilliant, right?). A few factors helped in coming to this decision. First, I've been eyeing newer laptops since I resurrected an old 700 MHz (yes, 0.7 GHz) laptop, building it with a reasonable hard drive, 500 MB of RAM, and XP. It works fine if you don't mind waiting for type to appear, the cursor to move, and can view things in something like 256k colors. 10 years ago this thing would have been worth a fortune. Now it's barely able to browse the web (I disable Java to help it along - it's that bad). So I knew that a new laptop was sort of necessary. I placed a "perceived" value on such a laptop - a figure that I felt a laptop should cost. My number ended up at the $1000 range.
Second, this is the pre-Christmas "blow out sale" time. With retailers anxious that people are more worried about their mortgages than their gift-shopping, they've been slashing prices and trying to draw shoppers in, even before Thanksgiving ended - to open from 9 PM to midnight on Thanksgiving evening, that's desperate. To think that I was considering going out there, well, I won't comment on that. I did wake up at 4 AM the next morning to drive to Warwick, RI (and no, I wasn't staying at home, so it wasn't that far) to buy a $450 or $500 laptop. At half my perceived value, this was worth a shot. I got there before the 5 AM opening time and found myself in a packed parking lot with at least a hundred people in line. So much for that idea. I resigned myself to spending in the $650-$700 range and bought what seems to be a nice HP with all sorts of cool features. The two important features: a big screen for registration and the ability to edit html using NVU. Other significant features include video editing CPU power (possibly for finishline camera use), built in wireless (so the air card can use the single PCMCIA slot), and two hard drive bays (so I can eventually run a mirrored disk setup).
Note: Although the laptop came with Vista, it may or may not stay. I may be converting the old laptop to a much more CPU friendly Linux operating system, possibly one that doesn't require a hard drive, freeing up the XP Pro license currently running on it for this new HP (and the harddrive for a second drive on the HP). Although eventually I'd like to run Linux for everything, the reality is that I'm used to XP and don't want to make things more difficult for me. The goal, after all, is to make things easier.
Third, I could do a post on the laptop.
Okay, I'm just kidding.
Seriously though, there's an element of "this is work" or "this is play" when I'm editing or working on Bethel stuff on either my personal or work computers. By isolating a single computer for Bethel (and I've decided to expand that to "Bike Stuff"), the laptop will be my go to machine whenever I need to do work on the site.
There are other advantages for using just the laptop for bike stuff. With my home computers (two which I actively use), my work computer (yes, I edited pages on that), and a sorry attempt at editing pages on the old laptop, I always ran the risk of not updating the correct version of the page. By using a dedicated computer for Bethel, I didn't have to worry about version control for the web pages.
In the past I've updated a page, uploaded it, and then realized I uploaded a modified old page - so the uploaded page was a mix of regressive and progressive information. Not only that but the only version of the original page was sitting on a computer 50 miles away, so I had to recreate the page (or wait till I got to the other computer - home or office) until I fixed things.
When I updated a page incorrectly while in California... well, let me just say that I was extremely unhappy. With the laptop being the sole source of page editing, I know that when I update a page, it really is updated. Since I usually travel to do a spring training camp or two, having a decent laptop will enable me to get things done while recovering from my latest ride.
Part of the laptop's duty will be blog posting too, so this is the first post from the new laptop. Cool, eh?
I've been thinking of more things for Bethel as well. In fact, in a sleepless (most-of-the) night, I ended up scrawling ideas and plans across eleven (!) pages of paper. Even for Mister List-Maker, that's a lot of stuff. Realistically one or two pages will become reality, but if they do, it's a page or two of things which will make the Bethel Spring Series experience a better one for everyone there, both us as the promoters and you as the racers.
And ultimately, that's my goal.
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