Clif notes for cross.

I so wish I had written this! Once again it's BSNYC. Almost as funny as the pan flute flowchart
"Never squander your inventory of excuses." ... truer words have rarely been spoken.

The Speedvagen Part 2. The Race of Truth.

Since this blog is already a freakin Sacha White love fest, I'll dispense w/ my drivellings about the application and love of all bikes Vanilla and just stick to what I know/believe. So here goes.

The Geometry:
As I mentioned In Part 1, I've been riding a Steelman Eurocross for some time (it's not the only thing I've ridden in that time though, just the nicest). It's a "55cm". A 57cm tt, 72.5/73 head/seat w/ about 58mm-60mm of bb drop. Yep, that make for a high bb. The bike as built runs just shy of 19lbs with dura-ace/reflex wheels. The front end is quick and due to the bb height, the chain stays are short so it climbs well. I've never caught a pedal w/ my 175s....ever. Now, as luck would have it, I had the opportunity to ride w/ Sacha. I have my fit pretty well dialed on the Eurocross so it was just a matter of translating this to the Speedvagen geometry template. I wasn't exactly sure what that was (Sacha is a man of few words) but I knew the bb would be lower. I rode his Vanilla SS and while a teenie bit small, felt natural. I'm game. The high bb, while great on bumpy courses, required a bit a finessing at times, so lower felt like a good direction to go. When I finally got the SV built up, I took it, my sniffles, and all my expectations to my local cross course. I managed to get in 3 hot laps before my energy bottomed but it was enough. The bike felt glued to the ground, but very nimble up front. With out knowing the exact geometry, I was guessing 73/71.5 head/seat because it felt like an old Lemond I had w/ similar angles. Sacha emailed that the bike was in fact a 72.7 square w/70mm of bb drop. Ever so slightly quicker up front than the Steelman, a smidge more stable in the butt, and A LOT lower in the BB. I doubt I could have discerned a 0.2 angle difference on it's own, but the change in opposite directions of both the head and seat angles and the significant change in the bb made for a ride that felt both quick and smooth. Cross bike Feng-shui maybe? Hey, but that was only 3 laps on a course I knew well. What about a Race. Well, I raced it. What did I think? I didn't have to. That really sums it up best. I thought about the race, not about the bike. I did catch a pedal twice. I'm use to taking pedal strokes soon after exiting. High bb's will do that to you. Most other turns I was able to rail through, pushing it each lap until I would break lose a tire. Dismounts at speed were smooth and stable. I'm sold.

The Craft:
I'm one of those guys who appreciates craft, but is not big on ornamentation. While I love wiling away work hours drooling over cut and polished lugs, It's not what I buy. A very FX4M kinda guy (1st one to guess that license plate in the comments wins a Snickers). The Vagen has that in spades. Everything that Sacha could think of appears to have been tried and applied. I'm sure everyone who gives a shit is aware of the seatmast and the Paul brake sleeves brazed directly into the stays, but the reason for the madness is a rear brake that's as responsive as the front. Perfect, just perfect. The seatmast-thompsonfrankenpost itself is a beautiful, all stainless piece of work. Very oomph! The dropouts are very trick w/ replaceable stainless plates. I've also never owned a bike w/ so much sweet steel swaging. The top tube appears to be a Life or Zona teardrop which flattens on the bottom as you move toward the saddle thus making for a much more comfortable portage. The downtube is swaged longitudinally along the headtube and laterally (are those actual words?) along the BB. Not new, but it still takes work. Nice and stiff. No need for gussets. The stays are swaged beyond belief. So much swoopy goodness. It gives the rear suspension characteristic I've never experienced on a cross bike. To cap it off, the seat stays are swaged again below the brake bosses into almost a rectangular section. Vertically compliant, yet laterally stiff. Sunday's race was lumpy, but the behind of the beast stayed in contact. My lower back is sending flowers. Thank you Sacha.

The Paint:
This was quite a suprise. After seeing the SV at NAHMBS, I figured the frame to arrive w/ a purposeful powdercoat. I love powedercoat. Not paint sexy, but so midwestern practical. What arrived was a beauty of a frame w/ paint and custom graphics care of COAT. The graphics are especially sweet. The alpha Q fork graphics are painted on the inside to match those on the top tube! The toptube and seatstay graphics are more than just icing, punching way above their wieght. She got hit on a lot at the races. K-murder, you own! As the girls would say, "Truffles!"

The Nitpick:
No one's perfect, but Sacha and the Speedvagen come as close as anything or anyone out there. In order to deliver 30 Speedvagens by early October, production was streamlined by having help, namely Mike Desalvo. I'm not sure what he was responsible for, but I'm assuming he at least TIG'ed the main triangle. I've seen Mike's work at various shows, and well, quite frankly, it's not his best and looks a bit rushed. It's perfectly functional and clean, just not the beautiful, single pass beads that I've seen him do. Again, I'm nitpicking, but hey, this was not cheap frame. The dropouts, while tres qule, need a bit of refinement. I needed to file them a bit so the r. wheel would slide in. I also needed to file a bit off where the seatstay brazes on so I could run my 14-25 junior cassettes. Granted, that's non-standard, but it's a super easy fix for '08 models. The swaged chainstay+dropout combo make for slightly awkward rear wheel changes. The chain gets hung up easily. It's nothing as nerve racking as those moronic KLIEN rear-facing dropouts, but it takes some getting use to none the less. Lastly, the bolts on my seatmast keep loosening. Thanks to the design, there's little adverse effect. The seat height doesn't change because there are shims underneath. The seat itself doesn't move fore or aft because it's still clamped, but it rattles towards the end of a ride/race. It's happened more than once, even thread-locked. Sacha is working with me on it so I'll keep y'all posted. I'm not the least bit concerned.

The Verdict:
A bargain. Not just a good deal, a bargain. Don't believe me? Look around, ask questions, ride lots of bikes, do the math. If you love racing cross and aren't sponsored by Ridley so you can score a new frame every two years, do you're damnedest to get one. I sold a bike, several wheelsets, a vintage coke machine that took me months to restore, and countless other crap to finance it...it was that or the kids went to JCC. I don't miss any of it.

The sickly sweet maraschino cherry:
17.5lbs w/ Dura-ace+reflex+Flexus! 16.9lbs w/ Hugi+ZIPP+FMB! Schwing!

Epilogue:
In talking w/ Sacha, It was clear the Speedvagen project was a labor of love. A love of cross and a love for cross racers. It was a lot of work. Thanks to Sacha, Scott, Kmurder, Mike and anyone else (Molly?) who burned the oil to pull off the charrette! I may be having my worst season in years, but at least I'm enjoying it. Does that make sense?

The Face of "11" a.k.a. Race Report #5

Today was the 2nd race of the Pilarcitos series. Candlestick Park. Ugh. The two worst venues are out of the way. Candlestick is my least favorite course. I usually hope for an excuse to skip it...baby shower, root canal, almost anything really, but I was jonesing to race the new bike. I've been battling a cold all week and losing, but just couldn't wait another week. Crap course. Crap cold. Crap fitness. Let's race! Truth be told, the course was as good as one could expect thanks to a week of sporadic rain. The dry, bumpy, flat dustbowl, was now a slow bumpy, flat not-so-dustbowl. The rains made for slower laps as the grass had softened considerably. If you weren't pedaling, you weren't moving. There's really not that much exiting to talk about on the course. Lots of grassy turns, a few barriers, and along road section that flew you into the start/finish. whooppee. The 'run-ups' were all big-ringable on all but the first lap of mayhem and the road section had me spun out in my 44-14. It was a good course for Flexus. Ran mine at about 37psi. Could have run 35. My legs actually felt decent for the first time in weeks, I just didn't have the lungs this week to go with it. Ave HR was 166 w/ 25 minutes in Z4 and 28 minutes in Z5. I need to shift that to 15/35. Lost the sprint for something-ith place to TooTallJones. We played Cat-n-Mouse the whole race. He would dump me on the road, I would get him at the first set of barrier. Bell lap. I knew he was going to jump me as soon as we exited the dirt and he did. He got a gap so I played dead, then tried to stealth him w/ about 100 meters to go. Unfortunately, it's nigh impossible to stealth someone w/ Flexus on pavement. Loud enough to wake the dead. He heard my wind up and jumped, holding me off by 1/2 a bike. Next week, TooTall, next week, you single, kidless bastard. It was also a race of several 1sts. First race on Sram, and first race on the vagen. Sram has a few quirks which I'm still getting use to but I can't blame my suckness on missed shifts or anything of the sort. So far so good. As for the vagen, well you'll have to start here. Thanks for the photo Brian!

Speedvagen Part 1. The Backstory

Everyone who reads this blog, everyone who knows me, hell even a lot of people I'll never meet know I've got a Speedvagen. I've raved about it's potential, it's aesthetic, it's father, but now it's time to fess up. Does it live up to all the hype, expectations, exaltations? Bear with dear readers for 1st a little background.

I've been riding/racing a long time. Not as long as some, not as much as others, but I feel I've put in my time. I wrenched professionallyfor 12 years including some race support, messengered w/idiotic abandon, commuted diligently, raced poorly, blahblahblah and so on and so forth long enough to have given me the opportunity to ride/own lots of different bikes in varied situations. It's also taught me that while not everything new is better not everything new is evil either. Clipless is better, threadless headsets are better, disc brakes on cross bikes....um, er?. Carbon has a place (thought I'm not sure just where yet). I feel so extremely comfortable on a bike that it is an inseparable extension of me and who I am. For 30 years, my parents have asked me when am I going to stop racing. I'm 44 w/ two small children so I know what they're thinking. They still ask me. I finally told them "Never". *SIGH*. They are of a different generation. Anyway, for reasons which I've explained in the past, I LOVE cyclocross. I'm not great at it. I was always better at crits and track where a bit of smarts and luck can make up for a decided lack of genetics. I like it though because it's hard. Start to finish hard. I like it because it requires a perverse level of mental focus. I LOVE it because, well its cross. Part Circus Maximus (TM Monica), part self-mortification, part kid-friendly lollapalooza. Ahem,where was I? Oh yes, the Speedvagen, background...right. So my first cross bike was an Alan bought back in '91. I don't recall how I acquired it, but I had somehow gotten it in my head that driving 4 hours (each way!) to Chicago each weekend to race cross in the dead of winter would make for good cross training. Chicago cross is a blog unto itself but in a nutshell, that Alan was fine. Fast forward to 1999. I'm living in the bay area and haven't done a cross race since 1992. I find there are races right in my backyard, so I dust off the rig, toeclips and all, and proceed to scare the crap outta myself. The race has some crazy fast long bumpy descents and the forks on the ole aluminum death machine were no longer up to the task. Long story short, I find my way to Brent Steelman and treat myself to a real cross bike. It's been 7 years now and I'm on my 3rd Steelman. Brent is great and the bikes are a reflection. No nonsense, tough steel bikes, yet still light, responsive and clean. The man can torch. Brent, you will be missed. The latest incarnation is a Reynolds/Dedacciai mix w/ a nicely swagged downtube, thin-walled OS toptube and an alpha Q fork. I've been racing it for 5 year. I Love it. ............................It's now my pit bike.

Cyclocross de Montmartre 1945

This comes courtesy of PuddinPie. The other day I blogged about "The Cascades", but play close attention. They run up the stair to Sacre Couer! That is one monster set of stairs! Awesome! My wife is working on the transcript as we speak, right honey? Honey?

The Cascades.

When you've got kids, a full time job, and all the trappings that go along with said happy meal, you need to get creative w/ your training time. I use to go run stadiums at Cal, but it just wasn't doing it for me. Thus was born "The Cascades". Since I do alot of training on my lunch hour, as cross season would roll around I began looking for the equivalent of an urban cross loop. It needed to be close to work, incorprate some run-ups, have a bit of recovery and hopefully be accessible to others. A few years ago I stumbled up The Cleveland Cascade. Check out the pic. That's a looooong set of stairs. The real joke comes at the top when you remount and have to keep climbing for another 100 meters. Nice! A few wrong turns later and I had a good 5 minute loop. Eight repeats and I was ready to puke. So far so good. The only problem was, I was lonely. In the early days, my buddy Robeanski would tag along and that 130lb MF-er would put some hurt on. Still, I was often just solo. Last year, PuddinPie started coming out on a regular basis. I despised his youthful legs, but welcomed his non-stop banter. But that's about as big as it got. So today was a bit of a milestone. No less than 6 crossers showed up to do The Cascades. Myself, Rhoda, PuddinPie, Scarecrow, Jesus, and Rook. Fiesty shows up w/o a bike but sporting some smart and sassy running shorts. My heart sang...then the laps started and it almost stopped. Rhoda always thinks his size is a hindrance (think Chewbacca meets Magnus Backstedt), yet in the next breadth complains about not finding an indoor trainer that can provide enough resistance. I think his power output is about 1.21 jigawatts. Scarecrow shows up for the first time on some tired ole rag of a cross rig and quickly shows that it's most definateley not about the bike! Jesus shows up late, but provides us w/ ample opportunity for heckling as he does lap upon lap. PuddinPie, Rook and me pull up the rear. I'm so happy I could almost hurl. We must be doing 'em right. Rock on fellas.

Oh Fortuna, why hast thou foresaken me.

So here I sit eyeballing the nicest bike I've ever owned (see the Sacha love fest blogs below), while my immune system takes a siesta. I'm racing this thing this weekend no matter what. I know it's stupid so quit looking at me like that. I'm doing it. I need to race this thing. I said that already. More kleenex please. CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP.

Why Cross Rulz: Reason 48

Cyclocross Bike Racing Traffic Jam On Muddy Run-Up - Click here for this week’s top video clips

Why Cross Rulz: Reason 47

DFL Race 4 (finals) Cyclocross Dress.

All smiles.

Picture=lots of words. Lots more here. Bar ends idea nicked from the lads@Montano Velo!

My best side.

Just got forwarded this link. Yep, that's my butt alright, the butt w/ the blue Steelman and red tires. That butt is about to get it's butt kicked by Kammeyers jolly green giant butt.

Oh My!

More pics here.

I live in a shoebox.

We don't have a TV, well at least not in the traditional sense. It's really more of a monitor hooked up to a DVD player. So while we might enjoy the occasional Blues Clues, we are clueless when it comes to current Americana. This is quite a departure for me as I was most certainly a television kid. I went cold turkey 6 years ago...from 67000 cable channels to ziltch. I still have the facial tick, but other than that, everything's cool. The only problem is my super wicked with-it sister. She constantly reminds me that there are actually things whizzing around out there that are actually worth watching. Flight of the Conchords is one of them. Thanks sis...you bastard. P.S after watching this clip, check out "business time".

Ohferchrissake! Race report #4

I'm trying to be positive, but there's little to be happy about. Yesterday was the start of the Pilarcitos series in Brisbane. I was battling a cold all week but felt fine Sunday morning. I figured I'd drive there, check the course, ride a few laps and if I was feeling it, race. Well, my head said go home, but my teammates reminded me of the points competition. The course itself, while not to my strengths, was a fun technical course. I prefer courses with long run ups and sand. This course was more of a bumpy powercourse. I had the best start in a long time, which was crucial given the 50 yards of asphalt followed by a sharp left hand bottle neck which transitioned to a right hand 180 up a short burm. On any lap but the 1st, it was ridable ,but even 10 back there was mayhem and as I was forced to dismount. He-who-shall-remain-nameless tried to RIDE UNDERNEATH, catching my rear wheel as I shouldered and almost throwing the bike outta my hands. DOnt' knwo how I recovered but I did. Then, just like last week, after a single lap....snap. That's all she wrote. SONFOABITCH. Nothing but suffering followed for 40 minutes. I'm so frustrated because I have no explanation. What the HELL is going on. I'm not racing, just suffering. I'm getting pretty tired of this sh!T. On the bright side, I think the team did well as a whole, but I had to split before results were posted. Loaned a wheel to Mel and she rode it to 5th in Womens Bs, so at least a part of me (my bike and I are one, dont' ya know) dah a good race.
I'm off now to drown my sorrows in coffee. Pics of my pain to follow shortly. The arrival of 11 should ease my pain some.

My cross philosophy in a nutshell.

"Sometimes it comes down to who is hardheaded enough to keep on going during trying circumstances and being satisfied with moderate goals like not getting lapped."
-Erik Tonkin

That pretty much sums it up...except substitute the word "lofty" for "moderate". Years back, when I moved up to Master A's, I scored a top ten finish. One week later my 1st daughter was born and been readjusting my goals ever since. It's reassuring to see someone of Erik's caliber echoing a core belief of mine.


Read the entire Erik Tonkin post here. Excellent interview by Brooke.

Cross Vegas 2007. Nothing else like it.

Aren't you glad you race cross. Don't you wish everyone did!

Sit back and enjoy. Thanks Morgan by way of gewilli by way of cxcn.

An Interbike post not about bikes.

Observations:

1. Fat or Fit. There seemed to be no in middle ground. Either people were racer thin or orca fat. Kinda spooky.
2. Guys held on to their girlfriends as if they were running from aliens. I mean death grip. At a ratio of about 400:1 I don't necessarily blame them.
   
3. The Taiwan pavilion never ceases to amuse.
4. The Italian pavilion never ceases to amuse, just not in the bust out laughing, falling on the floor kind referred to in Item 3.
5. All my carbon are belong to us.
   

File not Found.

I should have know by this omen; My race number was 404. Did I really think I could get away w/ racing after 2 days at Interbike. Well, yes actually. Boy was I wrong. Raced Ole Fart A's at Lion of Fairfax on Satuday and really stunk up the place. Started great, but two laps in, the "lights went out" as Morgan would say. Suffered, I mean really suffered for 5 more laps. I sometimes wish I was one of those guys that could just ride off the course and go home. It's Monday and I'm still wiped out. I'm hoping I've got a cold, otherwise it means I just suck. The course was not to my liking, but everyones got to ride it so there you have it. No complaints. I need a new set of legs.

I forgot.

So I forgot to blog about the 2nd cross race of the season back on Sept. 8th.
I sucked. There, you happy now.

No excuses.

I brazenly invited myself along on a weekly cyclocross training ride w/ some fellow racers who are much faster than myself. You know the old adage, Play w/ better players and get better yourself. Well, that may be true, but I hardly ever even SEE these guys. Man can they hurt themselves. They graciously wait for me at various points and don't brazenly mock me to my face for which I'm eternally grateful. I've never beaten them and never will. Such is my lot in life. On several of the rides, we've been joined by TR. He's about to do his 1st cross race. He's super strong, a fast descender (we're training on MTB trails riding cross bikes, always a thrill), and can match the attacks and accelerations of the others while I cannot. He's my age (44), and has decided to race Masters 35+ B. I pretend to race Masters 35+ A. If he doesn't win, I'll eat my hat....then guilt him into racing A's. Why would I encourage someone who I know is faster than me to race the same category you ask? Because that's just the kind of guy I am.....stupid.

Hey, not everything in my blog revolves around bikes o.k. Deal.

I wish I had more disposable income. I'd spend it on art. Tom Haney and Brian Dettmer are two of my favs. I've always been a fan of Amercian folk art and automata. When you see Tom's pieces, you'll understand why I love his stuff. Check out "Combo and Combo II" in the "Portfolio section.
Brain Dettmer pieces are well, brilliant.

Svaagen RULZ!

Andy, a fellow speedvageneer set up a great little blog to chronicle his love of all things speedvagen. He's agreed that it could be the home away from home for any and all things vagen (vaagen?). So if you're getting one, want one, or just want to peek in once and a while, head on over.I'll be cross posting here and there and around the square. Gotta go set up a google bomb.
Be right back.

Horner...

I like Chris Horner. He's one of the few cyclist interviewed who seems to shoot straight . He rarely sugar coats and at times makes comments I'm sure neither his sponsors, teammates or even other teams appreciate. He loves to race his bike and it shows. He gives insight into race tactics that remind everyone yet again what turd is Troutwig. Once gain, he delivers a quote that rings true....too true.

"Come on, you've made your career in cycling, and now that the sport is trying to clean itself up, you're just walking away?"
-Chris Horner on Lance Armstrong and the Tailwind Sports abandoning it's sponsor search.

While I'm not entirely convinced that everyone in the sport is trying to clean it up, the hypocrisy of LA and Tailwind sure leaves a bad taste in my mouth...like the taste of earwax. Ewwww!

The holiday decorations.

Tis the season. Cross season that is!
All these ornaments sit patiently waiting for a tree on which to hang them:
Frame/Fork (aka the tree). three quesses ;-)
Chris King Headset. What else.
Sram Force Shifters+F. & R. Der
Wipperman SS 10sp. Chain
PMP Micro Road Crankset 38/44
PMP Ti square taper BB.
Deda Zero100 stem and Deda Elementi Shallow drop bar
Selle Italia SLR saddle and Off The Front Cyclocross tape
Velox bar ends
Paul brakes and Swissstop yellow pads
Jagwire cables/Housing. inline adjusters
IRD deep drop cable hanger
Egg Beater Ti pedals

Race day Tubular Wheels (just finished-1175g/pair! yikes):
DT 240S hubs and Mavic composite quick releases
ZIPP 285 Pave rims.
Sapim CX-Ray spokes. Radial Front, 2x Rear
Shimano Ultegra 14-25 10 sp. cassette
FMB SSC Sprint 32 tubulars
Tufo tape + smidge of mastic one

Pit/Mud/Rough Course Wheels (still gotta lace these up):
King hubs and Mavic composite quick releases
Mavic Reflex rims
DT competition spokes. 3x all around.
Shimano Ultegra 14-25 10 sp. cassette
FMB SSC 32 tubulars.
Tufo tape + smidge of mastic one

Holy Crap!

beta-sway. go there. It's a very slick cycling/running/sports-in-general e-zine out of germany (but in english). Very high quality production. Homestarrunner says check it out.

Classic! the sequel.

If I tried to pull this look off, well, lets just say I could never pull it off and leave it at that. Koblet makes it look all so easy. I'd like to think it took him hours to perfect. It probably took him minutes.

"What, this old thing? I only wear this when I don't care how I look"

A tad eccentric...

I remember seeing this years ago. Just stumbled upon it once again. It's a UK thing. Easy to explain, hard to understand. While I applaud anyone riding any kind of bike for any reason, I can't help but snicker. It looks like something Victorian era Gentleman did to while away the hours between noon and high tea. That being said, I bet it's fun as hell. Of course they have a website.

Hrrmmmmmph.

The cross season started a bit early this year. A MONTH early! Three consecutive weeks of hot, dusty races to flake off the rust. Not that I mind, since I skipped the entire road season (no regrets) but I've been trying to decide whether or not to blog about the races this season. It seems I could just have a fill in the blanks these days.

"Todays race went from bad to ______. I felt like _______. Ended up ______-ith. Why do I bother.

Anyway, despite 95 degree heat, it was good to get the first race out of the way. I managed 8th out of 20 starters. not half bad considering. That pleasurable veneer was stripped the following weekend. For a racer w/ my lack of talent and training, there are always two races going on, the actual one, and the one in my head. If I've got good legs, the stars are aligned, and I've said my novenas, the two races are actually in sync. This happens about as often as it snows here. Usually, the races diverge. Just how long this takes is a good indication of how I'm feeling. This past Sunday, It happened just after lap two....out of eight. That's a loooooong time to be stuck in your own head. Especially mine. Twenty minutes of racing and 40 minutes of talking smack to myself. Looking back, the crap that pops in to dull the pain is actually pretty funny. "Does that guy know how silly his socks look?","What should I be for Halloween?", "How much lighter will I be if I throw up?". You see what I mean. To be honest, I can't really explain the motivation for doing this to myself, especially since I'm never even in contention for a pair of tires or those ugly socks. All I do know is that if I don't do it, I'm unhappy. Oddly, my wife understands. I love my wife.

Who. Are. These. People!

Stamen, a design firm in San Francisco, appears to be staffed by nothing but MacArthur fellows. I bet they are all really, really nice and attractive too. Bastards.

Exhibit A.
Exhibit B.
Still not convinced...

True dat.

Having worked in and loitered around shops for more than half my life, I might appreciate this more than most, but any bike nerd can relate. Take a few minutes and mosey on over to Bike Snob NYC. These are especially worth reading. Fixie Manual, Geared Manual, and this gem, Craigslist Bike ad. Oh, and dont' forget to read some of the comments. Almost as good as the blog.

My birthday is coming up.

I've lusted after this thing since it hit the wires about a year ago as a DIY. For those too lazy to click the link, it's the guts of a GSM cell phone hacked into a rotary dial. Think about it. Funny as hell and quite a feet. You dial it! It rings! Sweet Jesus! If you're not smiling or amazed, please leave the room. What I lack in time and soldering skills has now been lovingly packaged by SparkFun. Truth be told, I'd prefer the kit. That way I could locate an avocado version or that hideously beautiful mustard yellow.

Underrated or just under the radar?

About 5 years ago, Thierry at Cyclesports inroduced me to PMP cycling components...actually, just the cranks. It was love at first site. After a brief courtship, we were married and have been happy ever since. So happy in fact that I jumped through some serious hula to score another pair, as they have become a rare bird these days. PMP is basically a high end machine shop. From the looks of things, they make lots of nice stuff, but I'm only familiar w/ the cranks. They are forged, then machined, then polished. Complete set w/Ti BB in 175's is only 750g of square tapered goodness. That's on par or better than most high-end carbon cranks. They are my favorite cross cranks by far. Smack 'em on a rock? no worries. All the hardware is also Ti. They originally came w/ TA rings but now make there own. They need to find a better US distributor than Red Rose cause they sure dont' push it out on the west coast. Milano Sport will special order but that's it. Mangi bene!

more Still Funny...

Heywood Banks - Toast

Years ago, when I was living in Michigan, my friend Jeff and I would catch Heywoods act at a local pub on Woodward Ave. He was always histerical, poking fun at local politicians/celebs via song. He would end his shows w/ a lymeric-off. You would hit the mic w/ the filthiest you knew and Heywood would try and top it...he did...always. My brain was so severely scarred from those nights that I can't remember a single one....well, I remember one, but I'm afraid if I repeated it, I would go blind. He resurfaced on, of all places, a kids channel on XM radio. So without further ado, I present a little Heywood.

Hot Damn!

Airstream, eat your heart out. The 40's era Spartan is hard to beat.

I hate pan flutes.

If you don't find this funny, I think you should leave.

mmmmmm...bacn!

Hurry! Be one of the first kids on your block to use the newest interweb term.
Don't delay! Order Now. Suplies are limited. BACN!

Always interesting.

I never tire of Felice Varini. I cant' say the same for Julian Beever (you do the google). The Varini web site is infuriating so take some advice:
From the home page go to the second drop-down menu: "index chronoligique" and choose a range of years (e.g. 2000/2009) to go to an index page for those years. From that page choose the index drop-down (e.g. index 2000/2009) and select an individual year (e.g. 2005) and you'll finally be rewarded with a set of thumbnails and the first main image. Click the thumbnails to see larger versions of the works in the other thumbnails. Click on the magnifier icon below the main image to see a nice large image of the work. Most importantly, in the drop-down menu below that says "Hors point de vue", choose "ouvrir" to see the views of the work from other perspectives.

Speedvagen crumbs...

Mmmmm. So here's a little speedvagen candy for y'all. CADD drawings of the new cross dropouts.
I'd like to think this V is for Vagen, you gotta add the Speed. They are faced w/ a torx mounted stainless steel plate. and backed by stainless as well. Easy in, easy out. Oh, and beefy...er, um "stout" for all you speedvegans out there. Jeez Louis! Thanks Sacha for letting me leek this!

Serves them right.

So today it was announced that Team Discovery will disband after the 2007 season. While that might suck for the clean riders on the team, I have little sympathy. The fact of the matter is, professional sports will always have cheats. To what degree we, as consumers of such entertainment, will tolerate such actions has yet to be seen. Humans have the amazing ability to rationalize almost any action. I myself am on the fence, embarassed but hopefull

“Anything worth having is a thing worth cheating for.” W. C. Fields

My sisters rulz!

They all rock...but in different ways. This one's photos rock. She thinks she sucks and that infuriates me. She's a trained artist, cool as hell, an eye for the amused, bemused and obsurd. I couldn't have thought of that photo in a jillion years. She's gone pro so if you're in the DC area, hire her! Now! Before she realizes just how amazing she is and jacks her prices. She'll come up w/ crap your dreams won't dream of... http://www.thesmilecollector.com/

Still Funny...

It's easy to be funny for 15 seconds on the web. It's hard to do it for years, mainly because you actually have to BE funny and the web is brutally fickle.
Some funny sights that have been around for 100 years or 4 in web years.

http://www.lileks.com/institute/index.html
http://www.zefrank.com/
http://www.homestarrunner.com/
http://www.makingfiends.com
http://www.dooce.com/



Honorable mentions.
http://www.thingsmygirlfriendandihavearguedabout.com/
http://www.mulletsgalore.com/

Classic!

I love this photo. It's Alberto Ascari, Came across it entirely by accident. He looks to me like he'd be more at home behind a meat counter than a Ferrari 500, but the man had cat-like reflexes and a Brobdingnagian set of boys...oh and style (and maybe a slightly skewed sense of his own proportions. "Snug" is being polite).

Man, I gotta check out the PDX cross scene

If this is any indication at all!
That's Sacha on the far right,
Tony on the far left.

My date with Sacha.

I recently found myself heading up to Portland at the last minute for OSCON so I thought I'd try and swing by Vanilla to see Sachas new workshop. His email reply caught me pleasantly off guard.

"Are you bringing a bike? he asked.

When I told him I'd only be in town for a few days and shipping a bike was impractical, He offered to find me one so I could join him on a ride. So with pedals/shoes/helmet in tow, I met Sacha and two of his friends, Scott and Tony, at the Stumptown Coffee a few blocks from the workshop. Sacha gave me the choice of riding his speedvagen, or his white SS vanilla. Since the SS had no pedals and an adjustable seatpost, it was the sensible option. In retrospect, I'm kicking myself for not trying out the speedvagen. I am, at times, a complete idiot. They led me on a nice loop across the river, through PDX, up along a ridgeline and back, then stopped for breakfast at a place called Gravy (more on that later) before heading back to the shop. Not once did they poke fun at my pedaling squares or lame jokes. Decent guys, everyone of them. Seriously. I truly felt welcome from the moment I met them all at Stumptown to the time a left. It could be that since they were all much younger and better looking, I posed no threat, but I'd like to believe that Sacha simply surrounds himself w/ like minded people. Creative, unassuming and passionate about what they do.
It took every fiber of my being to not ask how the project was progressing or when I could expect my frame. It's not my first custom frame. I've learned to be patient in my old age.
( my wife just fell on the floor laughing). Anyway, the trip made me realize just what a bargain the speedvagen really is... No other builder has thought about, tested and then implemented what Sacha has done for cross. Custom tubing from Columbus, custom brake posts from Paul, Custom rear drop-outs (Saw the CADD of these...Yumm), custom seat collar. It's all there. My initial guess is that the bike will build up to be between 16 and 17lbs depending on what wheel set I'm on. Oh, and that's w/out carbon bars/stem/cranks. Crazy light for a bike where the only thing I'll worry about thrashing are the carbon rims.
Thanks Sacha....(and Tony And Scott).

I'm Bigfoot....not a good thing

So I just took the quiz on http://www.ecofoot.org/. I didn't do so well. Scored a 12. Take it youself to find out what that means.

2007 Cyclocross Worlds...Elite Women up on Race.cx

Just posted on race.cx! Never got to see this. The last 10 minutes are classic. The French do a great job tactically. Hats off to them but WAY TO GO KATIE! Check out the butter smooth muddy uphill off-the-back dismounts.

All I want for 3-months-before-Christmas is my Speedvagen

So all I care about is cross. I've raced just about everything in the last 25 years and cross is it. Period. Why? Well, I'm old...and I've got two YOUNG kids, and a wife who loves me (I plan to keep it that way) and she loves cross, and I've got a job, and a house and, and, and. You get the picture. So why suck for hours in some road race from hell when I can just suck for 45 minutes and be done with it! What about crits you say?...BAHHAHAHA. Been there, done that. I've never seen so many middle aged men willing to race like complete idiots for little more than entry fee money and some Gu.
Chances are if you crash in a cross race, it's your own damn fault. And if you do well, it's your own damn fault there too. Crash in a cross race and you get back up and finish. Crash in a crit and well, um...maybe. Oh, and cross races are kid friendly and muddy and nutty and all that crap. God I love cross. Which brings me to Speedvagen. I'm about to drop more serious college fund money on a bike I spend only 3-4 months on than I would on any road rig. Why? Because Sacha is the only builder I've seen recently who actually took the time to consider how to make a cross rig better, then took the time to try out those ideas on a frame for himself and ride. It's a stripped down race rig. Very bauhaus. Very Hot-Damn! I cant' wait.

All of my memories are stored on youtube.

Amen for youtube.....again! the COMPLETE Fishheads movie...not just the video.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cn73Wtem0No

Brent Steelman RESURRECTION...so to speak.

Well, Brent is alive and well Click here for proof, but he's hanging up his torch .and that is a truly sad thing. I'm on my 3rd Eurocross and it is/has been my favorite rig for the past 5 years (853+deda tubing and an Alpha Q fork). My "B" bike was also a Steelman Eurocross, which I just sold to finance a Speedvagen after hearing Brent wasn't taking orders. While there has been much useless speculation as to his reasons (see: http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=99275 ), only Brent knows for sure.
He and Katryn have always supported the cross scene here in spades and I hope they don't stay away. The TIGs are so clean, some thought they were filed fillets. He can weld some seriously smooth shit. I'm glad I've got mine.

I promise to update my blog.

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