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Thought Provoking or Provocative Thinking?
I believe I was age 34 when I began bicycle racing. Because of my age, I had the opportunity to participate in masters races and race as a newbie with the category 4 guys. I did both. The masters races were decidedly faster while at the same time safer. It was a temptation to never risk my smooth tan skin racing with the cat fours. The smart money generally bet on some sort of mis-hap occurring in the category 4 races. Despite this, I rode my way up through the category races. After winning two of my first three category 4 races, lapping the field in each, I was upgraded to category 3. I did a number of category 3 races, winning three and lapping the field in last one. In May of my first season, I was upgraded to category 2 in ABR and in June of that same season I was upgraded to category 2 with the USCF. I was able to avoid the numerous crashes that occurred in nearly every lower category race on my way up to category 2. It was always with a sense of relief that I finished a category 3 race unscathed so that I could line up with the 30+ guys later in the day for a race that would be clean. In the process, I learned how to handle a bike in races. I learned how to feather the brakes to adjust speed slightly. I learned this was preferable to locking up the wheels when some one in front of me slowed down. I learned that it is never a good idea to swerve violently while in the center of a pack of racers in order to avoid a manhole cover or a patch of rough pavement. I learned that it is never a good idea to fight a rider for position in a corner, only to allow a 4 bike length gap to open up after the corner. I learned that contact could be avoided with a slight lean of the upper body rather than lurching 3 feet sideways. The "make no sudden, violent moves" lessons have served me well in the past 10 years and have been put to the test though an upgrade into category 1(one) which afforded me the opportunity to race alongside the likes of Cadel Evans, Pele Kil, Harm Jansen, Robbie Ventura and Ivan Dominquez at Superweek or Downers Grove and at local events with the likes of Tolson, Puffer, Ebert, O'Donnell and The Rhino. I've mostly been able to avoid accidents and the worst scars on my smooth tan skin can be attributed to shaving accidents. Why do I bring this up? Because back in the good old days, the masters races were the safe bet and the category 3 and 4 races were the danger zone. I'm afraid the times have changed. Too many of my fellow masters are no longer working their ways through the category system and are racing only in masters races without taking the time to learn how to race and handle their bikes in races. While doing the Edgar Soto Memorial masters stage race in the Nashville area this Memorial Day weekend most recently passed, I saw some of the sketchiest riding I've ever witnessed while in the masters peloton. I saw brake slamming, swerving, under cutting, panic in close quarters and dodgy line taking. I saw spatial reasoning challenged men attempt to force their way through the center an 80 rider group moving at 35 mph. I saw riders whose bikes swayed with every pedal stroke. I saw men who had to take their eyes off the road just to reach down for a water bottle. I saw guys cut across 4 bike widths from left to right to grab a bottle in the feed zone. I saw grown men literally shivering with terror on their bikes as they panicked their way around the early laps of the criterium before being spit out the back and pulled by the officials. These are things I should not be seeing in a race supposedly made up of veteran racers. I am going to petition the USCF to REQUIRE all new racers over the age of 30 to race in and be upgraded from category 4 before being permitted to race in open masters races. Too much of an ability disparity exists in simple age groupings where a fit 44 year old former marathon runner can do the second bicycle race of his life in the same field as a 23 time national champion such as Curtis Tolson or with former pros the likes of Thurlow Rogers. The newbie might be strong, but is quickly on the rivet and in over his head. The learning curve is much gentler in the lower categories. One encouraging development is that more promoters are dividing masters categories into Cat 4-5 and Cat 1-3. I believe this to be a good thing. So, newbie racers over age 30 - do yourself and the rest of us a favor and stay the hell out of masters races until you have about 15 category races under your belt. Steve Spanbauer thanks you.
All About My Visit to the ZIPP Factory I know a great number of you bike racer types are complete geeks. I know this because I read your letters to Leonard Zinn on topics such as tire rolling resistance and aerodynamics and rotational weight of wheels. Well, this next section is for you. Over Fathers Day weekend my family convenes in Speedway, Indiana to watch the worlds most technologically advanced racing cars at the US Grand Prix - Formula One races. The cars are so fast and strong that a car can go from this…
To this…
at over 200 mph and the driver suffers little more than a concussion and a sprained ankle. This friends, is something to get completely geeked out about. A large part of the reason for driver Robert Kubica being able to survive impact with a wall at 300 kph is carbon fiber and how it can be laid up and bonded together in such a manner that it absorbs tremendous amounts of force, dissipates tremendous amounts of energy and yet remains light weight and comfortable. Sound familiar? My brother is a zealous bike geek. He regularly tells me that my tires are killing my wattage output - that I just as well hoist a sail on my TT bike as use Tufo tires. His geek zealot persona is especially impassioned when it comes to the CSC Professional cycling team. He went out and bought a Cervelo Carbon Soloist. He wears a CSC team kit. He switched from Giro to Bell helmets. He loves Bobby Julich and David Zabriske. He idolizes Bjarne Riis despite his history of drug abuse. He also has Zipp wheels and components on his Carbon Soloist. So precious is his bike to him that he seldom ever rides it. It mostly hangs in his garage, only coming out when he needs to show up the other guys in the Santa Barbara riding clique who ride less worthy bikes like Scott, Pinarello, Orbea and Ridley. As a completely geeked out guy, it was a natural for my brother to use his connections (he used to run Nike's cycling business development and is now with Patagonia) to arrange for a behind the scenes visit to the Zipp factory which is located about a mile from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway while we were at the F1 races.
I'm not sponsored by Zipp so this is not a product endorsement or review. I just thought some of you technogeek types might be interested in knowing why Zipp stuff costs so damn much and whether it could possibly be worth a second mortgage to buy a set of the new 808s. I
can't answer the latter question, but the former is easily explained
by the following phrase: What I saw in the Zipp factory was a process where the wheels and cranks and bars all start as sheets of carbon fiber fabric on large rolls. Fabric is cut by hand according to various patterns, laid by hand, packed into forms by hand, tooled by hand, put into ovens by hand, removed from ovens by hand, unpacked from forms by hand, trimmed by hand, polished by hand, drilled by hand, assembled by hand, decaled by hand threaded to spokes and hubs by hand, trued by hand and tested by hand. Every wheel coming out of that factory is touched by over a hundred sets of hands before it leaves. I was amazed. My brother, who helped develop Nike's Hautacam and Poggio shoe lines while in Italy (shoe building capital of the world) is familiar with carbon factory work. He said the Zipp factory was the cleanest facility he'd ever been in.
I saw a set of Zipp Cranks, which will be on the market next year, being subjected to a quality assurance machine that was torturing the crank arms about 100 times a minute in opposite directions simultaneously with about 50 times the amount of torque that Marty Nothstein could ever generate on his strongest standing 200 start. It was in the testing machine the entire hour that we were in the factory. I don't know how much longer it stayed in the machine but suffice to say, if a crank set can withstand that, it's not gonna flex when you stand up to climb or sprint. After each wheel set is finished with final assembly, it is placed into a press that compresses the spokes to such a degree that if there is any flaw in construction or assembly, the wheel will explode.
Zipp also is an OEM manufacturer for several brand names that I won't mention, but if you see a set of deep dish carbon wheels that resemble Zipps without the dimples, chances are those wheels were built in Speedway, IN. So yeah, light, strong, pretty, aero and all of that, but the impressive part is the technology, testing and amount of actual human interaction each wheel comes out of the factory with.
BOONDOGGLE "You mean to tell me that you can find a 12 mile stretch of usable road in the entire Central portion of Pennsylvania? Y'all must be crazy!" I received an email from a team mate of my brother who I will be rooming with next week for masters nationals in Pennsylvania. In his email he informed me that the USCF had posted the following announcement.
Okay then. Now rather than a short time trial of 30k we have a 24k time trial with 3 turn around points. We will have riders starting every 30 seconds from the start house going 6k out, 6k back and turning around at the exact location from which new riders will be starting. All of this on a 2 lane highway. I envision a time trial that will look eerily similar to a criterium, which of course the time trailers will love. Does USA Cycling really expect us to believe this is the best they could do? Is this the best solution those chuckleheads could come up with when the "circumstance beyond their control" arose? I suspect it is not the best solution, simply the easiest. God forbid somebody in the organization would have to do some actual leg work to secure a new venue for a time trial ferchissakes. If it's going to be a boondoggle anyway, why not just add another lap and make it a 36k TT? At least the distance would be worthy of a national championship event. Next time, State and National Championship reports.
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