First person to... 
Sunday, April 19, 2009, 05:58 PM - Cycling
First person to figure out and show me how to fix that <ul> on the right so it is aligned slightly more to the left gets a cookie.

I fussed with it for 5 minutes, and have decided I am much too lazy.

Team training camp was pretty cool. Did a solid 5.5 hour ride with Mr. Ryan Freund. About to go out for a sloppy ride in the wet weather too.

Joe Martin is coming up. Time to start getting my plans all set. Exciting.
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Well, that could have gone better. 
Sunday, April 5, 2009, 11:40 AM - Cycling
Hillsboro Roubaix '09:

First two laps were uneventful with very few moments of real excitement. Closest thing to excitement was when a break of 7 or 8 was up the road, and Texas Roadhouse put 5-6 guys on the front to bring it back.

Beginning of lap 3, I decided to take off for a short lived move with Chad Hartley and Will Nowak. When it came back I flatted. I waited, and waited, and waited. About 4-5 minutes passed before I got my wheel change, and I said screw it. The pack was gone, way gone.

As it turns out, (right as I flatted) Puffer meandered away from the field, and several bridged to form the winning move. That was all she wrote. Jeff Schroetlin made the break and pulled out a 4th. Jensen won.

At one point I thought my epoxy-repaired wheel was on the verge of imploding, but I realized that was not the case--it was just the road making a somewhat rhythmic thump-thump-thump-thump. When I flatted though, I pretty much ended any life left in that fixed up rim. Oh well. The front is still going strong.

That about covers it. Don't think I'm going to race in Indy today. Radar looks like a shit storm will hit right at showtime. Looks like I should have stayed in St. Louis. Damnit.

Love it. 
Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 07:42 PM - Cycling
However, this advance in technology triggered a firestorm of controversy during the 1929 Tour after Zippicelli gained over one hour on his rivals during the 366km stage from Perpignan to Marseille. The final straw was Zippicelli's shattering of the hour record during the weeks following the Tour, where he used his super wheels to break the record in only 52 minutes, stopping along the way for a glass of wine.


Awesome. ;)
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Hillsboro is near, and why I'm about to order Tufo tape. 
Sunday, March 29, 2009, 07:44 PM - Cycling
Wow, the season really is about to start. Usually by this time of year I've done at least 6 races. This year Hillsboro will be race #1, numero uno. Should be interesting. My fitness is decent enough; we'll see how I fair in the snappy conditions of a typical bike race.

Speaking of Hillsboro, I just decided to race carbon wheels there. Brave. These wheels have been risen from the grave though:



I cracked both of these up last year riding circles around Wisconsin's capital building. A little epoxy though, and I think they are ready to roll. With a little (lot of) help from the lady-friend, I was able to get all the awful glue off too. Which brings me to my next point:

Tubular glue fucking sucks.

Messy, obnoxious, ugly waste of time. This is why I've finally decided to take the leap and order Tufo tape. Here's how I finally convinced myself:

Everyone talks about how you lose precious watts to hysteresis with tape. I agree, you probably do. Spongy tape probably sucks up a watt or two relative to a nice firm glue job.

However, every year I lose at least a watt or two inhaling nasty fumes in my living room dealing with tubular glue. Not healthy.

Further, it's damn near impossible to get a tubular mounted straight with glue. The tire messily gets on, and is instantly in love with wherever it sits. It doesn't want to be centered. It wants to sit crooked and lopsided. This means your tire isn't round nor straight. So every time your tire rotates, you have to power your entire bike vertical the 3mm that your tire is out of round. Multiply that by about a billion (the number of times your wheel revolves in a race) and you've practically added a whole additional hill to your race.

6 watts gained in hysteresis, a half dozen lost in out-of-roundness.

Tufo tape also holds darn near as well. At 125 PSI, the Conti Glue rolled on average at 66lbs of force. The Tufo tape rolled at 63lbs. Based on the ridiculous amount of effort it takes me to remove a tire with a traditional glue job, I'll "risk it" and give up the difference in bond strength.

Oh, and Tufo tape is easy. even retarded triathletes can use it.

Sold.
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Quotables. 
Monday, March 16, 2009, 04:56 PM - Cycling
"Put pics of your bike on your blog when you get some free time, all the cool sponsored kids are doing it."

-Sir Cerbachalot


Ok, done deal:




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