Joe Biker

Joe Biker now "Out Of True"...the best bike blog ever

2008-09-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Joe Biker has moved to "The Best Bike Blog Ever" on Blogger, aka Blogspot and is now called "Out Of True." Clever, ain't it?

This blog contains all the archived posts from the former Joe Biker Blog on AOL. Enjoy the history of Joe Biker, and when you need something new, click the picture above and read something new from "Out Of True" The Best Bike Blog Ever.

Thanks for reading and we'll talk to you there.

Here's the RSS feed if you use a reader: http://thebestbikeblogever.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Tags: Joe, Biker, Moved, new, location, out, of true, the, best, bike, blog, ever, blogger, blogspot, AOL,

Angels in Spandex-Lunken/Downtown Cinti Bike Path

2008-09-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

We’re $4 million dollars away from getting the Lunken to downtown bike path completed. I don’t have that kind of jack, jack, but I’ll surely sell some old bike parts to do my part. However, $4 million is still a lot of used derailuers on Ebay. According to a recent story on Cincinnati.com, local, state and federal funding will cover all but $4 million of the estimated $17-18 million dollars to make your cruise from the eastside to downtown Cincinnati a pleasure as early as spring of 2010.

Since the RR tracks sit mostly above Riverside Drive, the view will be even better than from the road. Imagine not having to watch your back for crazy drivers that think the mostly residential Riverside Drive, with a posted speed limit of 35mph, is the faster alternative to Columbia Parkway. Suddenly some of those older East End houses are looking like a cool place to live, if you can’t swallow the price tag of the newer row houses and condos. All of a sudden Oakley and Hyde Park residents, who might ride to downtown via braving Madison to Gilbert, might consider the safer route of Delta to the bike path. With Columbia Square on the way, and a rumored Brueggers and Chipotle as tenants to go along with Starbucks across the street, Columbia Tusculum could be a real hub of fun for the path’s users as much as Loveland is to their stretch of the Little Miami Path.

The non-profit group, Ohio River Way, which sponsors Paddlefest, will begin a fundraising campaign to raise the $4 million dollars privately, according to Rick Greiwe, co-chairman of Ohio River Way in an online article. Cheers to those guys for spearheading the effort. Amazing that a group with its roots in paddle sports is getting it done. The least we can do is rally the cycling community behind them. Most of the money is there, $13-14 million in the bank so to speak. Just need $4 million more.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

The route has been set. The kinks appear to have been worked out in the lease agreement with Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority to use the abandoned railroad tracks, which SORTA owns. Whether the project moves toward construction in the next year or two or loses the air out of its tires depends on money.

Here’s a little local knowledge of those tracks. They are used maybe…maybe twice a month. One train is the little tourist train that parks at the Montgomery Inn boathouse from time to time and does a little sight seeing trip to the east side of town. The other train comes by maybe once a month, usually 3 cars which roll toward downtown and come right back a few hours later. Sometimes I just think that’s CSX way of telling SORTA that the tracks are being used. The third train is the Circus train that rolls into town once a year. There are 2 sets of tracks that run from Lunken to within about a mile or two of downtown. Closer to Friendship Park, there are 3 sets. I would imagine this temporary path would lie atop one set of tracks. The set that’s more North is the one that isn’t used and, around our house anyway, is overgrown and littered with brush and debris.

I’ll admit. I have a vested interest in seeing this happen, beyond just being a cycling enthusiast. My house lies across the street from those rarely used railroad tracks. I could have a bike path literally in my front yard. Yeah. Uh huh. Doing the cabbage patch happy dance right now. Where the tracks run along side Walworth Avenue, there’s actually a nice little park area with stone benches and trees that flower in the spring. What a perfect spot to rest your legs. When completed, I could ride all the way to Great American Ballpark and, aside from crossing side streets, not have to set rubber to a single road. If the link from Lunken to Newtown gets completed, there’d be a bike path from my garage to Yellow Springs and beyond. I think I just heard the sound of tinkling bells and a chorus of angels in spandex.

It’s the fall of 2008 now. Next year at this time, there could be brush being cleared and gravel being panked down on the six or so mile stretch of railroad tracks between Lunken and downtown. 18 months from now, we could be riding it.

If you’ve ever ridden on Riverside Drive (aka old Eastern), met a group ride at the Purple Bridge or Lunken because you didn’t want to drive on Eastern, or fantasize about how cool it would be to enjoy a safe and scenic ride from your Eastside home to downtown, or park at Columbia Square for an out-and-back ride to downtown capped off with a lunch or Coffee on the square, do yourself a favor and visit Ohio River Way’s website, make a donation or offer up your support via email to someone on the contact list.

Tags: Ohio, River, Way, Lunken, downtown, Cinti, Cincinnati, Bike, Path, Sorta, tempoarary, permanent, Little, Miami, railroad, tracks,

Rock the Cycling Sock

2008-09-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

Maybe this 40 year old cyclist is a trendsetter, or maybe I’ve just crossed the threshold of youth and I’m so out of touch that I’ve lost my fashion marbles. But, I really think these Sock Guy cycling socks look quite trendy with my work clothes today. They’re black with a brown star, so if your pants rise up a bit and someone catches a glimpse more than ankle high, ka-pow! I knock them out with my cool cycling-slash-work socks.

We had a blackout of sorts in the Cincinnati area this past week when the winds from Hurricane Ike blew threw. As of today, the 6th day after the storm, there are still around 80 thousand homes and businesses without power. I had planned on doing some laundry after the Loveland OVCX series cyclocross race on Sunday, but with no power, no laundry. Of course, even though our power came back on Monday night, I still use that as excuse to why I haven’t washed the heap of clothes in the bedroom and instead dipped into the cycling socks drawer for something to wear to work. Now, looking at my styling socks, I’m wondering if there are other socks in that drawer that I could wear to work.

I could be on the cusp of a whole new category of work socks. Normally men wear two colors of socks to work, black or brown. Alas! I have discovered something new…the Ralph Marlin Grateful Dead Fish Tie of the at work sock world. The tall-crew socks seem to do the trick. You can’t rock regular cycling ankle huggers at work. So, I went on the Sock Guy website and tried to find a few other styles of cycling socks you could rock at work.

Here we have the “Money” cycling sock, perfect for the sales staff. Put your feet up on the boss’ desk and ask for a raise or an increase in commission percentage while you flash these in their face.

Here’s the “King” cycling sock, which are quite effective when you need to lay down the law with your subordinates.

And for the riff-raff of the company, like myself, here’s a stylish racing stripe to impress your co-workers with at happy hour when you dazzle them with conversation about your last cyclocross race.

Tags: cycling, socks, work, wearing, fashion, trends, bike, racing, foot, wear, sock, guy

Crosso Trado

2008-09-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

I used to be a substitute radio host for a program called “Radio Tradio” on WTOQ AM in Platteville, Wisconsin. This was my first “career job” working part-time at the station while I went to UW for broadcasting. From time to time, instead of doing the night or overnight shift like most people do in their first radio jobs, I got called up to the big league of the afternoon shift when the regular guy got sick or went on vacation. On Friday’s from six to seven, after the top of the hour newscast, we rolled into the Radio Tradio program. We’d open the phone lines and people would call in with priceless valuable crap they wanted to get rid of, a radio flea market swap meet of sorts. “Mildred of Cuba City has two oak end tables, and is looking for a cookie jar.” As the host, I did my best to keep track of who had what and their phone number. If you wanted end tables, I’d hook you up with Mildred in Cuba City. Or, maybe you were listening, realized you have an extra cookie jar in your basement in Galena, so you’d call in and hook Mildred up. We’d get her back on the air and she’d gush all over the radio about how her grand kids broke the old cookie jar and how happy they’d be over the weekend with cookies on the counter. Radio gold! In retrospect, it really said a lot about the community around Platteville, WI. There was a lot of trust there. Nowadays, you don’t give your phone number and more or less invite strangers to your house to pick up end tables without a background check and a 5-day waiting period. The reason I bring up this history of broadcasting, is that Radio Tradio is very much like the trading of bike parts that goes on around cyclocross season.

This type of trading parts rarely takes place with road or mountain bike racing. With those types of races, you only have one bike and it’s usually the best you can afford. However, with cyclocross, your cross bike is probably the least expensive of your race bikes. You may even have a 2nd cross bike, a pit bike, that’s even of lesser quality. Cross bikes inevitably get the hand-me-downs from your other bikes. When you get new road wheels, the old ones go to your cross bike. When you get new mountain bike brakes, the old 1995 LX Canti's go on your cross bike. After a while, you start accumulating decent old components that don’t have a home on a bike but, like coffee stained oak end tables, you can’t seem to part with them. These parts are golden in the world of cyclocross parts trading.

Just this past week a friend was building up a new frame and the best front derailuer he could muster up was a 9sp Shimano 105 with a few years on it. It worked with his 10sp cassette, but wasn’t’ in harmony. So, he asked around. I happened to have a relatively new 10sp Ultegra that I stripped off my road bike when I got Sram Red earlier in the year. Since, both of my CX bikes are single ring up front, it was just sitting in a big blue plastic parts bin under the workbench in the garage shop along with an 8sp XT mountain bike cassette and a set of barely used blue Lizard Skin grips. I wasn’t using it nor do I have any plans for putting double rings on my CX bikes. So, I offered it up. Normally, I don’t ask for anything in return, but a 10sp Shimano Ultegra Front Derailuer less than a year old is worth a little more than LX cantilever brakes from 1995. Just like Mildred’s oak end tables are probably worth a little more than a piece of plywood countersunk into an old milk crate. So, I said, if you got anything I could use, let me know. He offered up a set of older Avid Shorty cantilever brakes. Since I actually do have 1995 LX canti’s on my pit bike, 3 year old Shorties are an upgrade. So, I took him up on the offer. No doubt there’s someone out there who could use a set of 1995 LX cantilevers. When I run into them, the cycle of Crosso Trado will continue.

Tags: Cyclocross, cross, CX, parts, trade, radio, tradio, WTOQ, platteville, bike, racing, component, swap, wisconsin, flea market

Hurricane Ike-clocross

2008-09-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

The winds did some house cleaning on the dead tree limbs, took that filthy layer of dirt off the top of the baseball fields, and dumped the whole lot into the tangled caution tape of the first OVCX cyclocross race of the season in Loveland Ohio. While the power went out to over a half a million customers, it was game on for cross. However, it was the power in the legs that was flickering for many riders as they battled the 55mph average headwind on the pavement stretch in the Masters and 1/2/3 races, which were underway when Hurricane Ike made his presence known in Cincinnati.

If there was an ounce of real blogger blood in my veins, I would’ve broke out the cell phone video camera to capture the comical carnage, but all I could do was to try to keep my back to the wind, hold on to my hat and half full can of Diet Coke, and keep ringing the cowbell for teammates in the Elite 1/2/3 race. Race organizers were frantically busy retying caution tape, trying to stake down tents and running full boar around the park chasing pages of results and one-day license entries as they blew away from the registration area. The poor PA announcer guy up on the hill by the ball fields was like a CNN reporter on the Gulf Coast as the wind whipped rocks and debris against his shins. He stuck it out like a pro. Even if the PA system was rather quiet and obviously under powered, he didn’t miss a beat describing the race leaders on the backside of the course. At the height of the wind, I could hear him barking something about Katie Compton being preregistered for the upcoming 3-day UCI weekend in Cincinnati. I don’t know who he was, but if the position is open, this is the type of guy you want announcing Nationals in the middle of a Kansas City snowstorm in December.

The winds didn’t really whip up till midway through the Masters 1/2/3 race, but you couldn’t ignore it as the caution tape made that hollow wicka wicka wicka ripping noise in chorus across the course. Being able to grab a wheel going into the pavement stretch was more important than ever. The lucky few who were able to stick together in little groups extended their lead on the pavement to the poor saps behind left flat-backed and hiding behind their handlebars as they drove their legs through the driving wind. Those like me who realized the disparity of the situation and hunkered down low and aero were able to pick off riders who tried to power through while still riding on the tops. While I wasn’t as aggressive at the start as I knew I could be, I picked off 3-4 riders during the race and finished guessing mid-pack. When I crossed the finish line, I pulled up next to some BioWheels teammates and one pointed out that I was bleeding on my shin. I didn’t wreck, it was wind damage. I remember getting sand blasted near the end of the pavement stretch and no doubt one sharp little rock drew some blood.

For those that evacuated, you missed an exciting 1/2/3 race. Nearly 10 well matched riders took control on the first lap, with at least a 30 metergap to the following eight. From there, some riders from the chase group managed to make contact while others who went out too hard traded places with them. But, when the 55+mph winds whipped up, it shredded the riders and the caution tape, reducing the 1/2/3 race to pairs and solo riders. I stuck around long enough to cheer the last BioWheels rider across the finish line and then headed for higher ground myself. My wife had called and said the power was out and some big tree limbs down in our backyard near downtown Cincinnati. Having the power out at the house was nearly a welcome situation after a race. Since there wasn’t much we could do, I spent the night on the couch recovering with a battery powered Coleman lantern and a new book called “Off The Deep End” about a Masters aged swimmer trying to qualify for the Olympics which is turning out to be pretty good.

More Photos: From Karen and Jeff and Tom

Results: Here

Joe Biker Note: Thanks for reading! Within the first 24 hours of this post, there were over 120 views. Gotta love CX season.

Tags: hurricane, ike, cyclocross, cx, cross, ovcx, loveland, race, wind, photos, image, picture, ohio, valley, cyclo, bike, damage

Tags: book, off the deep end,

Weather Watchers and Race Predictors

2008-09-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

McShane’s gonna take it! We’ll see. This is the Crossresults.com race order finish prediction of the OVCX Race #1 this weekend, based on Bikereg.com confirmed rider entries as of 9/11/08 at 9am.

Cat 1/2/3 Men Masters 35+/45+	Points
Michael McShane	244.82
Frederick Rose	286.31
Morgan Webb	288.77
Keith Hutton	328.29
Rick Lyons	330.47
Mark Strecker	343.78
James Turner	350.74
Bill Kennedy	468.28
Harry Wicks	486.84
Doug Hamilton	487.68
Todd Turner	Unknown
Mark Hooton	Unknown

Like having a bookie’s line on cyclocross races, The Cross Results website race predictor is up and running. It’s pretty cool, you just plug in the URL of the Bike Reg committed rider page and it generates a finish prediction based on past results. Brilliant! Admit it. If you plan on racing Sunday and you haven’t registered yet, chances are the reason is that you’re like me, a Masters aged racer, and undecided as to which race to enter and are telling everyone that you're keeping an eye on the weather forecast. Uh huh. Whatever. They nicknamed it The Competition Stalker for a reason. Cuz there's entry holdouts stalking the competition. If anything, it’s a great way to “stay focused on CX” while you’re supposed to be working.

Here’s the link to the page on Crossresults.com

Here’s the link to the OVCX Bike Reg confirmed rider list for the 1st race in Loveland, OH.

Its main flaw, because it works off results of the past 12 months, is that it can’t account for the improvements riders have made since last December. Here it shows Rick Lyons and Keith Hutton beating Mark Strecker in the Cat 1/2/3 Masters 35/45+. While I haven’t seen Keith or Rick ride yet this year, let it be known Strecker is on fire and has been putting gaps into many of Cincinnati’s ½ crossers at Wednesday night practices.

For a cyclocross rider stuck deciding on which race to enter, it’s a tough decision. You don’t want to be a sandbagger. You don’t want to get lapped either. I repeat. You don’t want to be a sandbagger. My rule of thumb is that if you’ve had 2-3 podium finishes in the lower category race and can finish mid pack in the next hardest race, you should take on the challenge. Then you have to consider the series. Sure you might not be able to snag a payout in the harder race right now, but the series is long, you’ll get faster.

Then it comes down to more personal reasons. As much as you hate to admit it, maybe you’re not as fast as you once were. The last time you were on the Cat 3 podium might have been in 2004. Or was it ’05? Maybe your best finish last year in the lower category was…uh 12th. Maybe you should race the lower category. Bike racing is cyclical. You have you're up and down seasons depending on your job and personal life. Then you look at the payouts. The Masters field pays cash to the top 7. Can you knock on that door this season? Maybe get beat up in the early races in hopes that you'll bag that 7th place down the line. The 3 payout is much more shallow and it’s prizes. Maybe you already have 26 pairs of cycling socks.

Maybe you’ll wait till Friday and keep an eye on the forecast. Weather watcher, yeah right.

Tags: Race, predictor, cyclo, cross, CX, OVCX, Loveland, deciding, which, to, enter, Bikereg.com, crossresults.com

Joe Biker Comeback Video

2008-09-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Official Joe Biker Media Release: September 10th, 2008

Hey everybody. There’s been media reports today about a possible return to racing for me. I’m here to tell you that after talks with my family, and two cats that I have decided to return to cyclocross racing this season. The reason is that there might be a chance in hell that Strecker, Bobrow, Noble and Gatch might get a mechanical during the season and open the door for me to snag a piece of that top seven payout. I’ll make it official Sunday at the OVCX race in Loveland. So, take care and remember, more cowbell.

Tags: Joe, Biker, Come, Back, return, cycling, racing, cyclo, cross, lance, armstrong, bike, pro, video, parody

Lance Comeback Video

2008-09-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tags: Lance, Armstrong, back, return, come, pro, cycling, race, again,

Dear Joe Biker: Cool Helmet Mirrors

2008-09-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

Inbox: Joe Biker Blog
From:	DLR
To:	joebiker
Posted:	04 Sep 2008 22:25 GMT
Subject:	Bottle Cap Mirror
I wanted to thank you again for the plug in your blog, I got an order from a shop in Florida that read about them. I want to send you a mirror of your choice.

There’s nothing better about blogging than actually having readers, except maybe the swag. Thanks to the shop in FLA for reading. Hopefully cyclists in Florida will see those hurricanes coming with your new helmet mirrors. Now that I have some swag on the way, maybe it’s time for a Joe Biker photo contest or something....or maybe I should just watch my back with my new Fat Tire Ale bottle cap helmet mirror. Once again, if you'd like to get your own, send an email to VRT64@aol.com Cost is $12.

Tags: bottle, cap, helmet, mirror, cycling, road, biking

Perma Funkadelic

2008-09-02T08:22:00.000-07:00

Your friends won’t tell you, but I will, you stink. My high school gym teacher bestowed that wisdom upon me when he reminded us after class to take our stinking school issued shorts and shirts home for mom to wash over the weekend. Apparently some of your gym teachers and mothers let you down. If you’re a cyclist, who I assume you are, for Pete’s sake, wash your stinking kit after you ride. Every time! Damn man, woman, you’re killing us back here on your wheel. You stink. And, while you’re at it, just in case, wipe down that leather saddle too. There, I said it. Either your clothes or your saddle has the perma funk. Both need to be washed today.

I’ve heard reports out there, and I’ve been behind a foul behind a time or two myself this year. I’m not naming names, and the timeliness of this blog has nothing to do with it. The people I rode with over the last week are off the hook. However, there’s a few of you cyclists in Cincinnati that think they can wear their shorts and jersey for more than one ride on a washing. You can’t. You smell. Bad. This must stop. Don’t think because you’re a girl that you’re off the hook. Not so quick missy. Pretty flowers on a jersey don’t mask the stank. The time to wash is neigh. People are starting to talk. There’s a reason why people keep leaving gaps behind your wheel.

Cyclists come from all kinds of backgrounds and financial situations. I understand that I’m blessed to have a washing machine and a laundry room at the ready when I roll back home after a ride. I understand that not everyone can afford to have two or more cycling outfits. Here’s a secret that I’ve used on many a vacation, where I could only pack one kit and had no hotel laundry. Soap and water! It’s brilliant. Use it on your fine leather saddle and your chamois. Any cave dweller can do it.

Locate a nearby sink. If you can’t find one, locate a bucket, bowl, or pothole. Camping? Put a plastic bag in your helmet for a makeshift sink. Fill the reservoir with water. Put some soap in there. Any soap will do, laundry detergent, dish soap, hand soap, bar soap, allthesame. Don’t be stingy. Swash it around a bit and mix the soap with the water. Toss your tainted taint protectors in there. Swash it around a bit more. Get the soapy water all mixed in real good. Drain the soapy water. Fill the bowl or bucket with water again. Rinse the soap out of your clothes. Wring them out. Hang them to dry on a shower rod, clothes hanger, luggage hook in your car or nearby tree. A jersey, short and two socks takes 4 minutes tops. Consider it a good core workout.

Now if your clothes have the super mega mega ultra death funk on them…yeah, you know what I’m taking about, it’s called perma funk. It’s not the latest slap-bass boogie album from Bootsy Collins. It’s the funk that doesn’t go away no matter how much you wash your clothes. Not sure? Do yourself and friends a favor go through ALL your cycling clothes and smell them. If they are what you call “clean,” but still have an odor to them, they got the funk. This usually happens to the jersey you love but refuse to part with because it’s still in good shape. You have two choices. Toss them or try this last resort. If the fabric on the butt is worn out, where riders behind you can see the Grand Canyon and surrounding shrubbery, for goodness sake throw them away. They are done. Even this lastresort cannot save them. Congratulations, you rode hard and long enough to actually wear out a pair of shorts. It happens. If the threads are in good shape, the fabric isn’t worn so thin that your junk is playing peek-a-boo, the chamois is still holding up to the beating from your big smelly ass, and there isn’t a picture of a giant googly eyed tree frog on them, then, and only then, there might be a chance you can save them with Sport Wash. Otherwise, throw away your sweat stained stanky skinsuit.

Sport Wash? What is this? Ah ha. Let me enlighten you o’stinky one. Sport Wash is made by Penguin. It is specifically designed to get the most heinous stench out of workout clothes. Buy yourself a bottle. You’ll find it at your local bike shop, running store, or outdoor store. It's a little pricey, but costs far less than a new pair of shorts or the humiliation of someone actually telling you face-to-face in front of all your riding buddies that you stink. I am not getting any kickbacks for this advertising. I am not doing this for your sake. I am doing this because I can’t stand to ride behind stinky people. Here’s a link, buy some of this crap, wash your soiled chamois in it or be destined to a life of solo riding. Your choice.

Tags: skinky, cycling. clothes, washing, wash,smell, sport, wash, funk

Today Is: "Ask Off Work October 10th Day"

2008-08-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

Cincinnati’s 3-Day UCI Cyclocross Weekend is October 10th through 12th, and you don’t want to be stuck at work while you could be racing cross right? To make things easy I’ve composed a suck-up email to send to your boss guaranteed to get you off work to race the first day, Friday October 10th. Just copy and paste the text below into an email and send it to your boss today.

Dear Super Terrific Supervisor (or your Boss' name here),

Thanks so much for looking the other way when I'm wearing my spandex bike racing skin suit at close of business, allowing me to leave a little early on Wednesday’s in order to make it to cyclocross practice and otherwise realizing that some people have unique interests in their lives besides American Idol. You’re truly a visionary. Thank you for seeing that by having cyclocross in my life, I’ve been more attentive, motivated, competitive, organized, productive and your best employee in the history of the organization.

There’s a big 3-day weekend of professional bike racing in Cincinnati the weekend of Friday October 10th. For a couch potato, like most of the slackers who work here, this would be the equivalent of having the opportunity to be on the starting grid opposite Dale Earnhardt Junior. Opportunities like this don’t happen very often. You've always told me, "(your name here), you got to take advantage of even the smallest opportunity to better yourself." The time for me has come. In order for me to make the most of all the training I’ve put in over the past few weeks, I’d like to take off Friday October 10th to be able race to my best ability against the toughest competition around.

Thank You,

Your Most Fit and Hardest Worker Ever (or, your name here)

After you get approval for the day off, register here.

For details click here.

Tags: October, 10th, 10, 2008, 10th-12th, Cincinnati, Cyclocross, Cross, CX, OVCX, Race, Weekend, UCI, 3-day, bike,

Cinti Riders In Velonews Photo

2008-08-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here's the link to the Velonews reader gallery post: http://www.velonews.com/photo/62849

Beauty day at Ault Park. There's John Gatch (green Huntington kit), Nick Tinsler (blue Darkhorse Kit 2nd back)...

Tags: Ault, Park, Crit, Criterium, Photo, Velonews, Cincinnati, Cinti, Riders, Bike, race, picture

161st Street

2008-08-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

161st street is a good place to be. It’s two less than 163rd. I’ve been there twice this year, frustrating part of town. It’s three away from 158th street, where I really want to be, good neighborhood. But, today I’m happy to be at 161st, crossing the tracks. I haven’t been to 161st since, uh, well I don’t know…maybe a year ago, before I bent my thumb completely backwards in a mountain bike wreck, before the freak push broom incident that ended with meniscus surgery on my knee, before we moved in the middle of cylcocross season last year. The fastest I’ve ever been on the bike is when I lived at158th. That was in 2005, when I was 3 years younger. While I can’t go back in time, I can get back to 158th. 3 more blocks to go. 2 to go to be in the 150’s. A couple more runs, pushups, situps and jumping jacks. A couple more long weekend rides. A couple more sufferfests with the skinnies. A couple 2-3 weeks of turning my back on Chester Cheetah and rippled Lays. 158, I got your number.

Tags: losing, weight, cycling, cyclocross, mountain bike, racing, road, training, plan, season

The CX Training Killer: Daylight Savings 11-02-2008

2008-08-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

It’s the end of August, new chains and cables round out both CX bikes. You switch-flopped saddles and cranks between bikes. To top it off, your new carbon tubular wheels bling hard enough to make Kanye West jealous, uh. While the CX races haven’t started yet, the bikes are dialed in and everything seems to be going to your evil plan. Gulp. Now you got to live up to the hype, yo.

Some will say that August is too early for CX, but this is the OVCX series we’re training for and those people are likely road racers. The OVCX ends early December. Unless you plan on racing through December and into January on the World Cup circuit the time to hit it hard is now.

Hopefully you’ve spent at least part of your August practicing technique, have a few bad-ass core workouts to your credit and have 2-3 interval workouts under your belt. I’ve been racing the OVCX for the past five to six years, and if you’re trying to figure out a training plan now, at the end of August, you’re totally F’d. Kidding. But you better get crackin’ homie.

Aside from the early season, the biggest issue is daylight savings time. It’s November 2nd this year. Right now it’s twilight till about 8:40p, allowing most day jobbers to get a good 2 hours of training in after work. Come November 2nd, 8-9 weeks from now, you’ll be lucky to eek in an hour ride after work. That’s precisely why area CX practices started in early August, 12 weeks from Daylight Savings. Don’t freak if you haven’t hit it hard on the CX bike yet, 8-9 weeks is still enough time to ramp up for the CX season, you just don’t want to wait till Mid-September.

In my experience, Daylight Savings time puts an additional mental whammy on training. Right now you might think you’ll muster the effort to break out the trainer after work in November, but who are you trying to kid. Cycling is more fun outside. It’s better to take advantage of the daylight and start training hard now in order to maybe peak in late October early November than to delay training, hit the Daylight Savings Time wall and struggle to eek in hard training sessions after work in the dark.

I’ve found for the OVCX, that it’s actually better to come out of the gate hard and continue to get stronger through October. Then, when Daylight Savings time hits, your training load decreases. Instead of this being a detriment, it actually becomes a benefit by giving you a bit of a late-season rest. You might worry that those who delayed training will spank you the last 3-4 races, but everyone feels the training pinch when Daylight Savings Time hits. It’s a pretty big blow. If you started training in August, you’ll have more under your belt and can afford to coast late in the season while the competition struggles in the dark.

Tags: OVCX, cyclo, cross, CX, training, daylight, savings, time, 2008, November, 2, workouts, cycling, racing, ohio, valley

The Diabolical Double-OVCX 2008

2008-08-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Masters aged crossers in the OVCX series this year may notice something a little different with the daily race schedule this year. The Cat 3, Masters 1/2/3 and Cat 1/2/3 race are back to back to back, Noon, 1pm and 2pm respectively. For Masters aged racers, with only a fifteen minute turn around between masters and open races, the double is now the diabolical double.

There’s a method to the madness. In the past, it’s been Masters 1/2/3 first, then Cat 3’s, then Elite 1/2/3. With the Cat 3 (B) race in between, it gave masters aged racers nearly an hour to change their stinky kit, recharge, down a coupla gels, relube the chain, stretch, pony up a 2nd entry fee and do the double. At the same time, Cat 3 level masters aged racers who could compete in the Cat 3 race and the Masters 1/2/3, faced a quick 15 minute turnaround. Consequently, masters aged Cat 3 racers usually chose one or the other. However, for some “middle of the pack” masters aged Cat 3 racers, that left a tough choice on race day: get whopped by doubling 1’s and 2’s in the Masters race or get smoked by younger racers in the Cat 3 race. This year, doing a double will require a 15 minute turnaround for masters aged racers of any level. In less words, the playing field is more level for the double. For those “middle of the pack” masters aged Cat 3 level races, no matter which race they enter, trust that the beatings will continue, but the competition should be a little more evenly matched in the Masters than in year’s past.

For more on the purse structure and points system of the OVCX visit www.ovcx.com.

Tags: OVCX, Ohio, valley, cyclocross, CX, cyclo, cross, schedule, daily, masters, double

Put Yer Mask On! NBC Olympic Cycling Schedule Link

2008-08-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a link for broadcast times of all the Olympic cycling events on NBC.

Tags: cyclists, mask, masks, pollution, NBC, Olympic, Cycling, Race, Link, Mountain bike, track, BMX, road, racing, link, schedule, event

Joe Biker and the Search for the Holy Tread

2008-08-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Dugast Rhino-The Holy Grail

If you want to make a cyclocross racer curl up into the fetal position, rock back and forth and suck their thumb, tell them that the can’t get their favorite tire. No! Wait! Chill! Your tires are available! It’s not you, it’s me. And, it’s not that the tires aren’t available any longer, I just switched to tubular wheels and the tire I like for racing in the OVCX, the Ritchey Excavator, doesn’t come in a tubular. It’s okay. Take your thumb out of your word hole.

After my wife uncurled me from the corner, I got to work to find a tubular that I think would work for me in the OVCX series. The operative words are “me” and “OVCX.” Everyone rides a bit different, I tend to lay the bike kind of low in tight corners, so euro style tires with small knobs and very little side tread like Tufo elites or ones with the file pattern are out. Again, that’s me…and that’s my bike sliding under the caution tape. Until the November rains come, most OVCX courses are relatively hard packed, mostly grass and I think have a lot of off camber turns. I need a tire that can hook up in tight grassy corners. Grass is slippery.

Sure it does get muddy in the OVCX series. However, in the past five years I can only recall a handful of races where the mud was thick enough to cake the tires. One was a course in Loveland OH, maybe Phillips Park, about five years ago. The other was a course on the south side of Louisville, KY maybe three years ago. So you’d think tires with taller and closer spaced knobs would be a good choice. The issue in the OVCX is the grass. Most of the tire-caking issues in the OVCX come from the grass mixing with the mud and ending up on your tires and bike. The grass makes a bridge and the mud paves it on your bike and tires. So, in that respect, we’re looking for a tire with knobs big enough to gain traction on the grass without ripping it and sticking it to your bike. Hang on a second; I got to go rock in the corner for a while.

The Richey Excavader Clincher

My favorite clincher tire for the OVCX series is the Ritchey Excavator with wide spaced knobs, cut on an angle and spaced sparingly across the tire. Since the knobs are kind of sliced on an angle, they grip the grass, but the grass tends to slide off and not stick to the tire. There are a few other tires out there that are similar, and I’m sure there’s a die hard like me with a long winded explanation to why they love ‘em for the OVCX series.

The crux is that when you go tubular, your options change. Your favorite tire may not be available in a tubular. Then again, with a tubular tire’s low pressure abilities, you might not need a tire with big knobs. You might not need a big fat tire, like a 35 Ritchey Excavator. Hold on, just got to remove my thumb from my mouth to type. Fa-boop! Okay. For the OVCX series I’m looking for wide spaced, knobby tubular where the treads will hook up in grass, but not take the grass for a ride. Focus. Focus. Focus.

I narrowed my search to a few tubies for the OVCX series. The Dugast Rhino is near the top of the list, but the price tag will also be the beginning of divorce proceedings. Not to mention the fact that your chances of winning Powerball are better than finding a set of Dugast’s in August. Other tires I’m considering are the Challenge Grifo, the Tufo Flexus and the Schwalbe Racing Ralph. All offer a tread that I think could work in the OVCX series, but there are issues with each.

The Tufo Flexus is the lightest of the three, consequently the knobs are smaller. They seem to be very similar to the Tufo Elites, but with a new side knob for good cornering.

The Challenge Grifo comes at an affordable price, as far as tubular go, but the picture kind of lies. While it has some decent side lugs, in real life, those knobs are pretty short.

The Schwalbe Racing Ralph is a tried and true tread pattern for this region in its mountain bike version. It’s now available as a cyclocross tubular. However, it only comes in a fat 35 and is the heaviest of the bunch. The thing is, in my years of racing the OVCX series I’ve learned that lighter isn’t always better. Faster is better.

Ritchey Excavators made me faster. They were chunky 35’s. I wonder, with being able to run a tubular at lower pressure, do I really need a wide 35, or can I go with a slightly skinnier and lighter tire? Let me rock back and forth on this. The thing with tubulars is that, unless you have more than one set of wheels, you’re stuck with that tire all season. Maybe you’ve got the lettuce to afford and re-glue new tubular tires mid-season, but these tires have to work for me all season. So, I think it’s better to err on the side of more tire, more contact area. Sure in theory a heavier tire may be slower, but in practice will it be slower than washing out on a grassy hairpin? I don’t think so.

To steal a quote from a web forum about cyclocross tires,bigger is better. I’ll revise that for the OVCX series. Bigger is the better bet. And, I’ll offer two of my other favorite cross quotes, “whatever makes YOU faster,” and “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.” Hello BioWheels? A set of tubular Schwalbe Racing Ralph’s please! What!? They're like $270 for a set? And, Dugast's are how much?! Maybe I'll go for the Grifo. But that Flexus is pretty affordable too and I think come in a big 34. I'll call ya back. I gotta go sort this out in the corner.

Joe Biker Note: I finally came out of the corner and made a decision. Price became a huge factor in my cyclocross tubular tire choice. The Dugast and Schwalbe's run $120-$135/tire. The Griffos, while nearly half the price at $60/tire (www.cyclocrossworld.com), seem hard to come by. I purchased the mid-priced Tufo Flexus ($99 retail) which where in stock at BioWheels Cincinnati, the shop I race for. Aside from being the lightest CX tubular of the four I was considering, by at least 100g/set, from what riders say, it seems to hook up pretty well in all but the muckiest conditions. Mitch at BioWheels said it really isn't a revamped version of the Tufo Elite, a tire which I had problems washing out in corners with in the past in it's tubular/clincher version.

Joe Biker Note #2: I changed my tire choice again, I'm going with the Dugast Rhino. My voice of reason, my wife, had a great point. She said, get the tires you know will work all season. At $99 retail/set the Tufo Flexus' ain't cheap either. She, like me wasn't completely sold on the Flexus tread pattern. Sure their more beefy and have an extra side knob compared to the Elites, but they are still sort of Tufo-ish. In a way she's like a coach. She doesn't race CX, but she knows the deal. She sees me tinkering in the garage. She's watched me race. She knows the courses. Granted they're going to put a larger dent in the budget, but the Dugast Rhino is the shizzle as far as tubulars go in the OVCX. My guess is that she'd rather hear about how I railed a corner than to sulk about washing out on my new carbon tubular wheels and losing a few spots. I guess that's worth an extra $30/tire right there!

Tags: OVCX, Ohio, Valley, Cyclocross, CX, tires, racing, dugast, tufo, challenge, grifo, Schwalbe, ralph, choice, flexus, rhino, BioWheels, Cincinnati, Bio, wheels, price, weight

Ka-jiggity Ka-jiggity My 1st 5k

2008-08-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Three of my toes are blistered. Ker-bloop! Make that four. Dang it. I only have one Band-Aid left. To add to it, I’ve got a hotspot on the outside of my left foot. It’s August 1st, 2008. I’m on the starting line with two of my co-workers to run my first 5k race, Cincinnati’s Downtown Dash. They’re somewhere behind me. I feel anti social, but it is a race. I line up on the 2nd row behind the shirtless bushy haired six-pack flaunting skinny 16 year old appearing as if he weighs 90 pounds including sweat. He looks like he can win I think to myself.

According to my blisters, it’s obviously well past the expiration date on my Vasque trail running shoes. From cycling I’ve learned it’s not wise to change equipment before a race, so blisters be damned, I’m sticking this 5k out in my old shoes. 20 minutes before the starting gun, I try to stretch and jog the slight pain out of my left foot. Luckily, I did a good job of popping and hog tying the piggies, so my blisters aren’t giving me a problem. I tell myself it’s a 5k, 3.1 miles. When the endorphins start coursing through my veins, I won’t feel a thing. It’ll be over in like 25 minutes. I’m hoping for 24 or less. Already, with only four runs under my belt, I’m thinking like a runner. In my head, I say, “Gotta break an eight minute mile.” In 24 minutes, I’ll find out how stupid and meaningless that is and that runners who compare different races and courses in minutes per mile are full of horseshit.

Runners think of minutes per mile, which, as a cyclist, is a hard statistic to grasp. We think of miles per hour. I have no idea how fast I can ride a mile. However, from the conversations I over hear, a lot of the runners around me seemingly know exactly how fast they can run a mile and have a baseless sense of exactly how long this 5k will take them. To figure out a target time for a 5k, they multiply their best minutes per mile time by three and tack on a few seconds for that last tenth. 3.1 miles equals 5k. It’s soo dumb.

Like miles per hour in cycling, minutes-per-mile is a useless statistic, unless you’re comparing it to the same course under the same conditions. Cincinnati’s Downtown Dash 5k is half up hill, half down hill with 3-4 flat blocks tossed in there. It’s 92 degrees out, humid, windless and I’ve worked a full day. To the runners that throw around their minutes per mile when comparing 5k’s, for lack of a lighter term, uh, blow it out your arse. I now know, it’s relatively meaningless in terms of how slow or fast you’ll be in a given race.

I know it is my first 5k, but of course I lined up at the front of the race right behind who I thought would be the fastest dudes in the race. I wasn’t foolish enough to think I could beat these guys, one of which had “26.2” tattooed on his calve, but I was smart enough to know that it takes less energy to let others pass you than to dance around people in front of you. I was going for the hole shot baby. The left hand turn was two blocks down the road and I intended to be there with the leaders. When the gun went off, I was running on air, floating right behind the skinny kid barely old enough to be Miley Cirus’ boyfriend. I hit the hole shot in 5th. There were 206 people behind me that had to go through that corner single or double file. No doubt I saved at least thirty seconds there.

The course tipped up hill briefly and a few that I shut out on the hole shot came around me. That’s cool. I eased off the gas in order not to blow and settled in. From there, it was nearly all up hill and relatively straight for the next mile and a quarter to Eden Park. Like a cyclist, I picked the straightest line between the slight curves. Shortest distance is a straight line. Every second counts, I remember thinking. Halfway up, people stopped passing and I figured I was with the bunch I’d be with to the finish.

Downhill from Eden Park, we finally got a blast of wind to cool us off. It was an out and back course, pretty much straight down hill for the next mile and a quarter. I lifted up the bottom of my shirt to cool my engine. A balding fit looking guy came around me. I grabbed his wheel…uh shoes…uh I drafted him. It worked for a few seconds, but I fell off his pace. Next guy same thing. The third person came around and this time I latched on all the way down the hill. Now, I’m not sure on running etiquette here, but I’m pretty sure drafting is legal and it did work. Near the bottom, she started to gap me and I let it go. My wheels were spinning as fast as they could. Coming downhill I could feel the meat of my quads bounce on my bones. Ka-jiggity, ka-jiggity, ka-jiggity. I hate running downhill. It hurts way worse than going up hill. Maybe it has something to do with overdeveloped cycling muscles.

We hit the last three or four blocks. The woman dangled in front of me. As we rounded the corner with two blocks to go, I could hear my 7th grade gym teacher in my ear, “Pull hard! Finish Strong!” Mr. Keller of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin would have been proud. I reeled her in and piped her at the line. I felt foolish sprinting, but then again there were like 140 some people behind me that would rather have finished where I did.

In my first 5k, I finished 69th out of 212. That’s another useless stat, completely incomparable to any other race. Top 3rd of the bunch is more relatable. Not too shabby for an over 40 Cat 3 cyclist I think. The kid won. I told ya. I knew he looked fast and experienced, albeit young. For you runners who think minutes per mile matter, I’m not going to tell you my time or the winner’s time. Nanny nanny boo boo. Google the results. However, I will give you a number you can use, the delta to the winner. I got beat by 7 minutes and 56 seconds. Next time hopefully it’ll be less.

Afterward, my coworkers asked if I’d do it again. "I, fhew, dunno," I wheezed between gulps of the ice cold finish line water. It was frigging hard, like cyclocross is to road cycling. Short, but evil. I like cross, so I’m sure I’ll do it again, just not too soon.

Tags: First, 1st, 5k, Downtown, Dash, Cincinnati, 2008, 40, year, old, My, St., Saint, Xavier

Veloporn: Reynolds DV46CX Tubular Wheelset

2008-07-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not coining a phrase, but Veloporn fits the situation. I know I'm not the only one. You know how it is when you got something on order at the shop and can't wait til it arrives. You gawk. You day dream. You say geeky bike dork stuff to yourself like, "ooh that little stripe of blue on the sidewall of those Reynolds DV 46 CX tublulars is going to look hot with the blue on the frame of my Planet X cyclocross bike." Like Rain Man, you say, "Yeah. It sure is." Cross is coming my friends. Cross is coming.

Tags: Velo, porn, cyclocross, cross, cx, reynolds, dv, 46, tubular, wheel, set, carbon

Baggy Shorts, Baggy Skin

2008-07-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Place Name Team

1 Kenny Fuller Simple Green/Cycles Veloce

2 John Elgart Webcor/Alto Velo

3 Ken Louder FFKR/SBO P/B Tour of Utah

12 Kevin Kruez Unattached

His bargin bin yellow jersey was a little baggy on him. So were his shorts. So was the skin on the back of his knees. We had each others wheels for a while in the double paceline last night. When I had his wheel in the left line, I could tell he was strong. It took some effort to hold myplace at the front before he came over in front of me. He was thin. He didn’t have massive big hoss man legs, but strong enough to haul his 130ish pound frame at 27mph+ down the road to New Richmond, OH. His first road race ever was just a few weeks ago: the 60+ National Road Race Championships. Out of the 39 or so riders that raced, he finished 12th. That’s the abbreviated results above. From the times posted at usacycling.org, it looks like a handful got off the front and he held his own in a bunch move for 6th. Not too shabby for his first race ever. Yep. First bike race he ever did, Masters Nationals. He’s no slacker either. Last night he showed me, bike racing doesn’t get any easier as you get older. The guys aren’t slower. Last night, he dropped all on the steep climb out of New Richmond and held his own with a select 3 or 4, including me, on the longer 2nd climb. That pretty much told me that if you plan on racing into your 60’s, you’re going to have to be at least as fast or even faster than you are now…just to finish higher than mid pack. He was 15 to 20 years older than the oldest guys on the ride last night, mostly a mix of cat 3’s and 4’s. Kevin Kreuz is his name. Don’t let the shabby yellow jersey and black shorts fool you, he’s a 60 year old Cat 5 from Cincinnati and he can put the hurt on ya.

Tags: Masters, Master, 60 , over 60, National, Championships, Cincinnati, Louisville, Kevin, Kreuz, road, race, racing, cycyling, 2008

Cincinnati's McKay on National MTB Podium

2008-07-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

BioWheels Amanda McKay (left) on National MTB Podium

Here's the story in her own words from www.biowheels.com

The NORBA National Championships in West Dover Vermont was unseasonably dry, well at least until midnight on Friday night. Rain fell out of the sky in buckets prior to my race at 8:00 in the morning. There were nine starters from all over the United States in the Expert 25-29 race. I had a great start and was the first one to the climb but it wasn’t long before Disterheft was climbing on by me. Demeter grabbed my wheel and the three of us were off. We kept each other in sight through the long winding descent with a few rocky technical sections thrown in. What a fun race course!

We stayed together for the first lap but broke apart after the second descent. I was gaining a lot of time on the descents but Disterheft was clearly the strongest climber out there on Saturday. The course had a great climb and an even better descent. I caught Disterheft on the second lap when she crashed and I narrowly avoided running over her. She caught me mid-way up the climb on the second lap and I grabbed her wheel.

Erin Disterheft (Galesburg, Mich.) finished first in a time of 1:54 riding for Team Billy’s. I finished 27 seconds back rolling out my fourth, second place finish in a row. Erin definitely made me work for that second place; she was climbing like a champ. Janel Demeter (Glenside, PA) rounded out the top-three in 1 hour and 55 minutes. It was great to get up on the podium at the National Championships and even better to be wearing my BioWheels Jersey.

Thank you for all the support!

Amanda McKay

Tags: Amanda, McKay, mountain, bike, mtb, mount, mt, snow, vermont, national, championships, race, podium, cincinnati,

Thanks to 160 Joe Bikers!

2008-07-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Rock on brothas and sistas from otha mistas. Just noticed that the page views are up considerably lately, about 160 views every week now. So, thanks for reading the stuff that comes out of this "big rock" of a brain and thanks for telling your friends to google the Joe Biker Blog. Special thanks to two great Cincinnati area cycling blogs, the Two Johns Podcast and the Cincinnati UCI3 cyclocross blog, for the links. That's cool. It's not a lot when compared to a giant like Velo News. But, Velo News is for the masses. I hope the Joe Biker blog is a slice of our cycling life in and around Cincinnati and the Tri-State area. I compare our 160 weekly views to people stopping into a Cincinnati bike shop and picking up a flyer about the local flavor. I only write about 2x/wk, so I highly doubt that there's the same 20-25 die hards who check in religiously every day. 160 per week is pretty impressive.

As long as you keep reading, we'll continue to write about the things that make riding in and around Cincinnati unique and look for the fun little nuances that every cyclist can relate to. Have a great ride this weekend and we'll see ya next week hopefully with some photos and stories from local riders at Superweek in Milwaukee.

Sincerely,

Joe Biker

PS: CX is coming!

Tags: Joe, biker, readership, up, page, views, increase, Superweek, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, cycling, biking, riding, road, mountain, cyclocross, CX, MTB, racing

Un-dorkified Helmet Mirrors

2008-07-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Any more than two pieces of safety equipment on your bike and/or person and you’re walking the line into dork territory. With these new “beer goggles” or aptly named Bottle Cap Bicycle Mirror, I’ll cut you some slack on the tool-o-meter.

It is a rearview helmet or eyeglass mounted mirror made from a recycled bottle cap and a bicycle spoke. Price is $12 each including shipping. Yes there’s a Fat Tire Ale model. Make a match with your Niner Bikes YAWD bottle cap headset cap.

The creator can do special request for beer caps and can make one from a cap you provide. Email for order details. There’s also multiple unit discounts for individuals and bike shops. VRT64@aol.com

Remember if you use these, you only get two more pieces of safety equipment and even then you’re walking the style-line. Don’t be the reason most people think cyclists are dorks, be cool and make it a light and a taillight. Leave the whistles, bells, orange vests and ankle reflectors for the crossing guards. Please.

Disclaimer: Joe Biker has not been swagged with one…yet. Wonder if they do Ti spokes or carbon?

Tags: Bottle, Cap, Helmet, Mirror, Sunglasses, Beer, Goggle, goggles, spoke, cycling, bike,

BioWheels Harry Wicks Not In Jail

2008-07-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

BELGRADE, Serbia - Authorites aren't quite sure yet, but some suspect that Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of Bosian Serbs, grew a long white beard and attempted to take on the alias of BioWheels Cincinnati Cyclocross masters racer Harry Wicks to conceal his identity, officials said Tuesday in revealing details of the fugitive's capture after a decade on the run. No offense Harry, you gotta admit the resemblance is pretty uncanny!

Radovan while in power (left) Radovan making believe he is BioWheels Harry Wicks (right).

The real Harry Wicks tearing it up at a Detroit UCI CX race.

The real Harry Wicks with unrelated cyclocross superstar Barry Wicks.

Tags: Radovan Karadzic, Harry Wicks, cyclocross, resemblance, look, alike, capture

CBS: Cycling Broadcast Suckage

2008-07-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

(American Christian Vande Velde from Velo News)

I tuned in Sunday at 4 to CBS’s coverage of the Tour De France expecting to see 60-75 hours of bike racing somehow condensed into a neat little 45 minute package. We all knew it would be that way. No complaints there. We know Versus has the full meal deal. I also know any monkey with a You Tube account can edit video. Why I expect more from CBS than actually cramming 60-75 hours of footage into 45 minutes, I don’t know. I don’t understand how CBS didn’t see the big angle for any American watching TV on Sunday afternoon. An American rider has been for nearly two weeks, and still is, 38 seconds away from the Yellow Jersey. Sure it’s a long shot. But, it’s no piece of cake for Cadel Evans either, just ask his shoulder. The sad thing about CBS’s lame Tour De France recap is that someone will no doubt ask CBS why they don’t air more cycling on TV and CBS suits will point to the fact that not many people watched the hour on CBS yesterday. Well duh. That’s no fault of cycling. It’s because CBS failed broadcasting 101.

I’m a producer myself, went to college, been doing it for over 20 years and the whole lot. Here’s the first thing you learn in broadcasting 101. Cater to your available audience. It’s so easy. Aside from having a functional TV, what’s the one thing that every possible TV viewer on Sunday had in common? All cyclists? Nope. All NASCAR fans? Nope. All American! Ding. Ding. Ding. Every possible TV viewer for CBS on Sunday at 4pm was American. Someone needs to let CBS know that there’s an American named Christian Vande Velde in contention for the yellow jersey. For the past two weeks he’s been wheel to wheel with Cadel Evans. Not to mention, his team, Garmin-Chipotle, has the toughest anti-doping protocol in all of cycling, and maybe in all of sport. Focusing the hour of tour coverage around Christian Vande Velde would’ve made the most of Sunday’s available TV audience and brought the tour to a level all Americans could understand and enjoy. CBS completely missed the story and probably the ratings.

Instead, CBS tried to cram an elephant into a keyhole, made even smaller by including a ten minute documentary about the race caravan. While the piece would’ve made a good 60 minutes segment, as aired in the middle of the race coverage it basically told the audience that the bike race isn’t interesting enough for an hour, so here’s a story about pretty girls handing out trinkets from a giant cup of coffee on wheels. I won’t even get into what that stupid “dramatic” music during the race footage was all about. The bottom line is that CBS had an hour to somehow tell the story of the first 15 stages of the Tour De France, and blew it, not from a cycling standpoint, but from a professional broadcast standpoint. Cyclists who really want to watch the tour have Versus, the internet, or a friend who has Versus. CBS had a real opportunity to take the hour and make it something that every TV viewer on Sunday could enjoy: the Tour from the perspective of an American rider in contention for the Yellow Jersey, Christian Vande Velde.

Tags: Christian, Vande, Velde, CBS, Tour, De, France, coverage, report, story, 2008

This Just In: Dopo Dopardo Sacked at Le Tour

2008-07-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

10 July 2008: Another typical finish at Le Tour, Alejandro Valverde hammers head down to beat Cadel Evans and win stage six at Super Besse at 2008 Tour De France, while the dope in front with his hands in the air is hauled off by police. While initially it appeared as if it were a victory salute, it does kind of appear that Dopo has that "Huh? Who me? But, look I'm in front! I won. Really!" look on his face. More about Dopo Dopardo and the new dope CERA at Velo News.

Funny, it's nealy a year since "Dear Doper."

Tags: Ricco, Riccardo, Tour, De, France, Le, 2008, Stage, 6, six, super, besse, valverde, evans, dope, epo, repo, cera, Saunier, Duval, out, dopo. dopardo

I Hate My Cyclocross Pit Bike

2008-07-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

(I used to hate this bike)

Let me save you another season of dreading flats, rolled tires, tangled chains, and bent shifters because you can’t bear the thought of jumping on your P-O-S pit bike. First off, your poor pit bike is a decent bike. You just treat it like it’s the nerd of all your bikes. After I got my custom Indy Fab Planet X, my Jamis Nova hit the “D” list in my stable. Last year I moved it up to “B” list status by getting the fit and feel as close to the IF as possible. Better yet, it became an advantage in races, rather than a last resort and didn’t cost a whole lot to do it. Keep in mind, fit and feel is more about how you feel on the bikes, not so much how the bikes handle the terrain. Pay more attention to the areas where your body touches or is affected by the bike. Before September is the time to get crackin’ on your CX rig setup. CX stuff is stacking up in the shops and you’ll most likely get first dibs on your friends old parts if you start asking around now. Rather than upgrading your race rig, it might make more sense to make both bikes as similar as possible.

It paid off in places for me. Last year at a race in Louisville, my Planet X had succumbed to the weight of the mud and shifting issues. I had dropped from about 5th to 10th. When I ditched my custom IF in favor of the clean Nova, in a lap or two I gained back a few spots. The Nova felt great. While an old Jamis Nova is sub-standard compared to an IF Planet X, just having the bikes set up as closely as possible to each other made the transition between the two nearly seamless in regards to fit and feel. When your race rig has chain suck and is covered in five pounds of mud, a clean Jamis Nova becomes the better bike. Moreover, the pit bike helped me in the race instead of being an “in case of disaster” fall-back. While pro’s like Katie Compton may have 4 identical CX bikes, and a dashing hubby/mechanic to boot, here’s some tips to get your bikes set up as closely as possible without spending a lot of money or trying to break up the nicest couple in bike racing.

TAPE MEASURE

Get the cockpits to feel the same. Take measurements from your race bike and transfer them to your pit bike. Be patient. Measure twice. Don’t rush. This is best done on a rainy afternoon in August. For a good fitin the legs, measure from the top of the saddle (where the post would intersect if it went through the saddle) down to the center of the pedal axle. To match the reach, measure from the same point on the saddle to the center of your handlebars. Take it a bit further, measure the drop between the top of your saddle and the top of your bars. You don’t want to feel stretched out on one bike and cruched up on the other. Make adjustments with spaces under the stem of your pit bike. To really dial it in, you may need a different size stem. Email your buddies or check the used part bin at your local shop. Chances are you’ll be able to do it for free or for a few bucks.

YOUR TUSH AND GRIP

If possible, get the same handlebars and saddles for both bikes. Put the same bar tape on both bikes. Remember we’re trying to get both bikes to fit and feel as identical as possible. Besides bar tape is cheap. If it’s not possible to get matching seats and bars because you splurged on carbon bars for your race rig with your government surplus check, at the very least have the same size bar and a similarly shaped saddle on both bikes. If you can swing it, find a bar that has the same anatomical shape for your pit bike. Weight isn’t as important as the fit and feel. While you may not be able to put $250 Fizik Aliante’s on both bikes, the Fizik Vitesse is pretty much the same shape and retails for under $90. Still too much? Check with your friends or local shop to see if you can scare up a used one. I bought a used Aliante last year for $50 from a buddy. While it’s a bit squeaky, it works. Selle Italia Flight saddles have been around since the dawn of time and there’s always a used one in someone’s basement. Ask around, you’ll be surprised how many people hate the saddle shape you love and have a spare in their parts bin.

LEVELING WITH THE LEVERS

I used to have front and rear top of bar brake levers on my race rig and none on the pit bike. That was a big reason I hated riding the Nova, the brake setup was completely different. For just a few bucks in new cables and housing you can split your 2 levers between both bikes, so both bikes are identical. While it could take a whole blog entry to explain, on both bikes I only run one top of bar lever on the left side controlling the rear brake. While you may have Dura Ace shifters on your race bike, used Tiagra will have the same feel at a fraction of the cost for your pit bike. If you don’t run a front derailuer and just have a brake lever on the left hand side, do the same on your pit bike. Don’t worry about buying a set of right and left, you can run a right hand brake-only lever on the left side with a little finesse of the cable routing. Besides, making things work is half the fun of cyclocross.

THE INSEAM

The only difference in feel between my two bikes last year was that the Nova had FSA 175mm cranks and the IF had new Ultegra 172.5’s. I could really notice the difference in length between the bikes. You might have to make a call on this one. While I’m in the process of switching out the 175’s for 172.5’s, some may argue that having longer cranks on the pit bike may be beneficial late in the race when your legs get tired and you could use the added benefit of having more leverage on the cranks. However, I’m going to err on the side of having both bikes fit and feel as close as possible and install a set of old Ultegra 172.5’s on the pit bike. Keep in mind, with cranks it’s relatively unimportant to match the brand. The same length is what you’re after.

The Rest of the Bike

You could go all crazy and put identical tires on both bikes or run the same brakes and fork. However, that’s less about fit and feel and more about handling and performance. If you get the fit and feel dialed in and at least make the gearing the same, you’ll never dread jumping on your heavy knicked-up nerdy P-O-S pit bike this season. When you’re done, if you can close your eyes and swing a leg over both bikes and not be able to feel the difference between the two, your pit bike will become an advantage this season.

Tags: Cyclocross, cross, cx, pit, bike, set, up, ovcx, series, UCI, Louisville, Cincinnati, Ohio, Valley, race, races, racing

When It's Okay To Bail Mid Ride

2008-06-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

(Best to walk, it's more enjoyable and besides, this circa 1878 covered bridge can swallow your wheels)

“Joe, do you ride everyday?” he asked. “Huh,” I said, caught off guard at the halfway stop of the Wednesday Cincinnati Cycle Club covered bridge ride. “Uh, pretty much.” “I see,” he said. You want to get an honest answer, ask someone a question when their heart rate is jacked.

I had told the group I was peeling off before the covered bridge loop to solo back to town and watch my BioWheels teammates for most of the Ault Park Criterium. I really didn’t think much of it. I wasn’t racing because I’m still nursing a sprained thumb and can’t keep a solid grip on the bars quite yet, which is kind of important when you’re two inches from 60 guys sprinting at 38mph. While I can’t clap, the least I can do is show up and cheer.

For him, a person who can’t get out for a ride everyday, there was no way he was cutting the covered bridge part of the ride to go watch other fast riders race. That was just outof the question, preposterous. It made me think, have I taken my cycling for granted? I hope not. However, here I was looking for a place to cut the most scenic and fun part of the ride.

Cincinnati’s covered bridge ride is a two and a half hour ride round trip from Hyde Park and consequently can only be done on the weekends or during the week at the peak of summer when it’s light out till just after 9pm. A 6:30 rollout brings you back at sunset. In another 6-8 weeks, there won’t be enough daylight to make it out that far after work. It’s a beautiful loop with an Alpaca farm, good climb, great views of rolling hills, a fun descent and a walk through a long covered bridge built in, I believe the sign says, 1878.

Most people walk through the covered bridge because the historic decking is made up of 12x2’s with a 2 inch space between the foot-wide wood slats. That space can easily swallow an expensive wheel and make for a long long long walk home. I have ridden through it, it’s kind of fun, like trying to ride on a curb. Most of the time I prefer to walk and look up and enjoy the beauty and history of the bridge.

As my wife and I rolled home, I had time to think. It’s true, I can pretty much ride everyday. She also rides and occasionally races. So, there’s no issues there. She was on this ride and turned around with me. No kids. For the most part, our jobs end when we leave the building. It’s really pretty rare that on a sunny day we have to choose between riding or some other obligation. We literally plan our household chores around riding and the forecast. When it rains we vacuum, shop for food, clean bathrooms and do dishes. We save the sunny days for riding. Even if we don’t ride, we at least get out for a walk. It’s really pretty sweet. I hope I never take that for granted. I also don’t take it for granted that when I race, it’s great to have teammates cheering you on. It’s not an obligation or a team requirement to show up at races and cheer, I just think, if you can’t race and have the time, it’s a good thing to do.

I think the point is that it really doesn’t matter if you cut a ride short, whatever the reason. At least you got out for a ride, however long, however many days a week. You’re riding, enjoying life, getting some exercise. Most people don’t.

Tags: Cincinnati, cycle, bike, ride, covered, bridge, batavia

Whistles R 4 Crossing Guards

2008-06-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

From www.occmedcentral.com/humor/cartoons/oshabike.jpg (and apparently from an old Kool Stop ad).

The thought crossed my mind. I could just unclip and give his seat post a nudge with my foot and send him flashing and whistling into the river. “That guy” snuck into my ride the other day and the orange socks, hunting vest, three headlights, triple taillights, helmet mirror, bell and whistle nearly sent me over the edge. With the stupid mirror, I couldn’t even mock him from behind, or ditch ‘em at the next turn. I was stuck.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy and a strong rider to boot. Under the 25 pounds of safety equipment, he’s a guy you probably would hang out with. I’ve shared beers with him at back yard barbecues, not any weirder than the next cyclist. There’s people way more out-of-true than him. It’s not that he’s a geek. It’s as simple as this. It’d be much more enjoyable to ride with him if he just picked two safety items and left it at that such as: a headlight and taillight, orange vest and a bell, orange socks and a whistle, helmet mirror and long pants. On second thought, just pick one. Really, we were on an hour and a half ride three hours before sunset, never more than 25 minutes from home. If that one item has to be the whistle or bell, he should only use it in the most dire circumstances.

That damn whistle, toot toot toot, toot toot toot, toot toot toot toot all the way through International Friendship Park, the most peaceful, beautiful, serene, well landscaped park in Cincinnati. “Oh my gawd dude you’re killing me.” What’s wrong with a nice calm, “gonna pass on your left.” Noooo, that only works on an individual basis. Bunnies and squirrels don't understand english. That's why there's the whistle, the 50 thousand watt blowtorch clear channel radio station of cycling. “SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY…DORKS ON BIKES APPROACHING FROM BEHIND IN FRIENDSHIP PARK!! BE THERE…NO WAIT…GET OUTTA THE WAY OR YOU’RE ALL GONNA GET RUN OVER BY SOMEONE WEARING AN ORANGE VEST AND MATCHING SOCKS AND NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO DIE LIKE THAT!!!”

I kept my foot clipped in, my mouth shut, gestures in check (helmet mirror remember) and just tried to direct our little ride to where there would be the least amount of pedestrians orplaces where he might be tempted to lift the whistle to his lips. I’m sorry. Maybe I’m petty. To me, however, bike riding should be somewhat peaceful and simplistic. I prefer hand gestures over shouting out “HOLE!” Sure, every now and then walkers take up the entire width of the bike path or a car comes a little too close, but you don’t need $250 in safety equipment for those circumstances. Pick one. Two if you must. Please leave the whistle to the professionals like referees, the police and angry homely old disgruntled bitchy crossing guards.

Tags: Bike, Safety, cyclist, equipment, unnecessary, whistle, light, mirror, helmet, orange, vest, socks, biking

Campy Goes To Eleven...and no drummers died

2008-06-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

The new 2009 Campagnolo Super Record 11 cog cassette, as featured at www.Velonews.com. Play video to find out the true reason why your 10 speed cassette is inferior. To save some time, let it load, use mouse to move slider and start playing at 1:18.

For more check out Velo News.

"We've got Armadillos in our trousers. It's really quite frightening." Nigel Tufnel.

Tags: Campy, Campagnolo, 11, eleven, speed, cog, cogs, cassette, 2009, super, spinal, tap, marshall, amp, amplifyer, video, photo, picture

One Thumb Up

2008-06-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

Do you have trouble pulling your waist band down to take care of business? Do you wrestle opening a granola bar or cracking open a can of pop? Is it awkward to carry a cup of coffee with your other hand? How about cleaning a litter box? Does it smart to pull-start the lawn mower? Does hitting the space bar on your keyboard with your left thumb make you say “ooch?” Then, you may have bent your thumb back to your elbow in a bike/tree incident this weekend.

The doc at the finish line said he didn’t think it was broken. But, when I jumped back on my bike after clipping a tree I could swear I felt my thumb bone slide past its joint when I tried to shift it back to the big ring. Total heebie jeebies. Can’t shift, well I’ll just leave it in the middle ring I thought to myself. The next down hill proved a mistake. Even hanging on to the handle bar was dicey. My Race for the Graves at EI was done.

I was feeling good, running about 11th or 12th of 25. I was pretty sure I was leading or at the very least would snag some cash in the 40+ category, thanks to Charlie Miller and Phil Noble’s absence. As far as a local expert race, I was doing pretty well amongst some good competition. Good stuff.

You never expect to crash. There were a hundred other places on that trail that would’ve ranked higher on the wreckability meter, ladder bridges, creek crossings, wheel sucking whoop de doos. I was on one of the few relatively flat and straight sections of the whole 8+ mile mountain bike race course at England Idlewild Park in Burlington, KY. There might have been 4 trees in this 75 yard stretch that were remotely close to the trail. I clipped one of them by no more than a half inch and I went flying. If I were going slower and been even 2mm more away from the tree, I probably would’ve saved the crash and finished the race. But, I was big ringing it, probably close to 20mph and didn’t have a chance. Instant ejector seat.

I remember everything but actually seeing the tree before I clipped it with my left grip. I remember my left hand being ripped from the bar, somersaulting through the air. I remember seeing the ground and my front wheel, landing on my shoulder and back of my head and rolling to a stop. My bike stopped dead in its tracks. It was laying less than two feet from the tree I nailed. The carpet had been abruptly pulled from underneath me. Bike seemed okay. I was scratched. Everything seemed in order, except my thumb hurt. Ah, just a thumb I thought. Riding on proved to be an exercise in pain that didn’t need to be endured.

Since my day was done, I noodled back to the start finish. Gestured a “slit throat” to the officials, held three fingers in the air (my race number) and went in search of ice. The great thing about the race being sponsored by Wellington Orhopaedic is that there was a doctor on site. He gently grabbed my hand, asked if I could do this and this, asked if this or that hurt and came to the conclusion that I just bent my thumb backward real bad. I’ll say. No doubt I'm gonna be out of racing for the next 2 weeks or so, unless I get grip shift for the mountain bike and ride the CX bike with no front shifter on the road. So, here I sit typing with nine fingers, my left thumb floating above the keyboard. Like after a weekend at Fight Club, it’s another Monday back at work.

Tags: results, recap, news, EI, MTB, England, Idlewild, Park, Burlington, KY, Northern, Kentucky, Mountain, Bike, Race, For, the, to, graves, 2008

Flood Sale: Car $5...Roof Rack $300

2008-06-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

In the wake of Midwest flooding and in hopes of helping out a cyclist in need, here is a post I saw on the Ohio Mountain Bike Association Forum from "smithbarry" in Whitehall, OH. I feel your pain brotha.

$300 for yakima bike rack
$5 for flooded out car

my yakima rack is now more valuble than the car

i should have parked in the driveway

(just joking, i'm not selling i've always wanted a boat)

For the complete post click here.

Tags: flood, midwest, flooding, mountain, bike, cycling, trails, yakima, rack, roof, car, flooded

With This Tube I Thee...Make Friends

2008-06-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

I don’t think it’s coincidence that inner tubes are like big rubbery round wedding rings. I’ve met so many interesting people with a simple exchanging of tubes.

On a little noodle ride, after work a few weeks back, I was rolling up Madison Avenue, one of the main bikeways between downtown Cincinnati and Indian Hill, the nice east side riding area of town. There was a guy up on the sidewalk, carbon bike flipped upside down, obviously stewing. Rule number 1 with cycling is that you always ask someone sitting along the side of the road or trail if they need any help. I touched the brakes, asked, and the guy in a unique accent said he flatted. Without hesitation I offered my tube.

Now there are cyclists out there that would never offer up their one and only tube to a stranger. If that’s you, you are doomed to a solo cycling life. Enjoy your life long time trial purgatory, I always lend a tube.

He said he was from Puerto Rico, but his accent and facial features suggested something more like Belgium to me. Regardless, I still couldn’t get his name right. Rendall, I think. As he pulled the flatted tube out and checked the tire for debris, we got into a conversation where he mentioned that he was in Cincinnati on an Ex-pat business assignment. I mentioned that we had originally moved to Cincinnati for work as well, some common ground. I put some air in the new tube and handed it to him. We got into a whole conversation about moving to different countries and yada yada yada.

So, with the bike rolling again, I asked where he was riding. He said he was just out for a little after work ride like me. So, we decided on an hour loop through Indian Hill. He was a strong rider. We tested each other a bit on the climbs, at one point nearly racing up a steep one. It only takes two to make a race. Unverbally, out of breath, we each arrived at the conclusion that we were pretty well matched. We bombed down Miami road into Mariemont and noodle back into downtown.

Before we parted, he asked for my email, so he could repay me the tube. I said don’t worry about it. He insisted. Without pen and paper to write it down, I just said, tell you what, the next time your near Biowheels in Madeira buy a tube for me and leave it with the mechanics and say it’s for Joe from the team. He said he would.

He didn’t have to. I could care less. Sooner or later I’ll get a flat, be without a tube and hopefully the first rider that comes by will offer one. What goes around comes around, whether it’s a seven dollar ultra-light or a Performance cheapo. Tubes are tubes when you need one.

So the other night, I’m riding with a group up a climb and I decide to punch it and hammer the whole 3 miles to the top. I was feeling good, needed some confidence after a bad showing at a recent race, and dropped the group within a minute and was just enjoying my good legs. Within 300 yards from the top, I could hear heavy breathing behind me, gears switching and a wheel shadow under my arm. Shit! Someone bridged up. How dare them! I dumped it three gears up, jumped on the pedals and put ‘em in the dirt. This was my Zen climb and no one was going to beat me to the top. As I crested the climb, eased up and looked back, here was the very same guy who I lent the tube to. Rendall? When he got close, he reached to his back pocket, pulled out a tube and said, “Joe, I’ve been meaning to give this to ya but haven’t seen ya out in a while.”

Tags: Tube, Tubes, Inner, cycling, share, sharing, karma, what goes around comes around, mountain, bike, road, ultra, light

39N 85W A Cycling Adventure Awaits

2008-06-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

39 degrees North. 85 degrees West. Rick Smeltzer's been there, that's his photo, but you could be the first on a bike. This is the closest GPS confluence point within bike riding distance from Cincinnati. If you don't have a GPS mounted to your handlebars, a confluence point is where the major coordinate lines on a map intersect. In scientific speak, they are the points of latitude and longitude integer degree interections. According to the to the Degree Confluence Project, www.Confluence.org, you may able to see it if you ride your bike to it, however, the actual point is in a pond in Dearborn County Indiana. Pack a swimsuit and beware of the snapping turtles.

Click here for a Google Map of the location. Get on your bike and roll. You could be the first to bag it on a bike! If you bag one in Ohio on a bike document it on the OMBA website here: http://joinomba.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=60891&sid=99cfcf8fb6fc6dee5e8e04ac5b639733#60891

Over the past few days, I've been reading a story about these confluence points in Outside Magazine. The Confluence Degree project is on a mission to have every point documented. So far, all in the US, except for a few in Hawaii and Alaska have been documented. Cool. Adventurous. However, I would bet, most have been on foot. Maybe you could be the first to bag one on a bike. All of a sudden, my feeling that having GPS unit on your bike is the equivalent to wearing a jersey with the words "drop my fat ass" printed on the back is starting to wane. GPS units aren't for tech geeky club riders. People are out there exploring seemingly arbitrary places like 39N 85W, pictured below, everyday. Pretty much, there's a confluence point within 50 miles of you right now. You don't need to go to Antartica to explore, you could be the first to ride a bike to a confluence point near you this weekend. Imagine you and your bike pictured at a confluence point in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana. It's almost like being on top of Everest. Almost. Nearly as fun and without the painful brain swelling.

The following text & photo taken from Rick Smeltzer at: http://confluence.org/confluence.php?id=933 Congratulations Rick. Maybe I'll be the first to bike, or in this case snorkel to it,that is if the land owner lets me.

(visited by Rick Smeltzer)

23-Jul-2000 -- This confluence, 39 north 85 west is located in southeast Indiana near the town of Dillsboro in Dearborn County. The landowner allowed me to photograph the confluence. The actual confluence is about 5 feet out into a pond. The topography here is steep from the upland to the Ohio River valley. This confluence is also located near Friendship, Indiana home of the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association National Fall Shoot.

This annual event pays homage to the old-time art of muzzleloading and the pioneer spirit. The Shoot started in 1933 with an argument about the accuracy of the old guns that were used to forge early America. The guns made a good showing, and today, 1,500 shooters and up to 2,000 spectators enjoy the competition. Also, Friendship is known for its flea markets and swapmeets.

Photograph one is of the closest point to the confluence, located about 5 feet out into the pond. Photograph two is from the other side of the pond looking at the confluence. Photographs three and four are looking west and southeast respectively from the confluence. Picture 5 is the obligatory GPS receiver closest to the confluence near the edge of the pond.

Tags: Rick, Smeltzer, Degee, Confluence, Project, Road, Mountain, Bike, Cycling, To, Confluence, Point, Points, GPS, Cincinnati, First, bag, explore

Joe Biker Makes Cycling News-Mohican 100

2008-06-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks Cycling News for making my beatdown at Mohican worth the suffering. For more great Mohican 100 photos click this Cycling News Mohican 100 Photo Link And, for all the real cycling news visit www.cyclingnews.com

Tags: Cycling, News, Mohican, 100, Devil, Helmet, Horns, Viking, picture, photo

Tags: 2008

A Beer With Floyd 2008 Mohican 100 Race Recap

2008-05-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Good times: Floyd Landis and I at Mohican 100, just when I thought I was thin!

The following photos are from the Mansfield News Journal Photo Link

Mansfield News Journal Story Link

Mount Vernon NewsRace Video Photo & Story Link

According to Earl Hickey, Karma is supposed to work like this, you do something good for someone else and something good happens to you. I cracked open an ice cold Magic Hat Ale the night before the Mohican 100 NUE Series race and handed it to Floyd Landis. How could that be bad karma? Like giving a spare tube to a stranger with a flat, giving a beer to someone should bring good things. Regardless, my Mohican 100 turned into a horrifying exercise in heat management and I don’t think Floyd’s went as well as he wished either.

Friday night, before the Mohican 100 in Loudonville, Ohio I was hanging out with my BioWheels teammates at cabin #3 at Camp Nuhop, on the race course about a quarter mile from the finish. We had already got a nice pre-ride in, got the team tent up and were making the last tweaks to our 29’ers, getting the grill going and relaxing on the porch. As we lubed the bikes and tied the cowbell to the tent, riders would make their way past our cabin, pre-riding the last few miles of the course. Around 4:30 or so, Floyd Landis rounded the corner with two buddies. He shot us a big wave and a smile as he rode by, and I said, “Hey stop by on your way back for a beer!” He said they would.

They did! So, I stole a Magic Hat out of Nate’s cooler, cracked it open on the work stand and handed it to him. Floyd hung out for a good twenty minutes, just like one of the boys, shooting’ the shit as my dad would say. He looked fit. His quads weren’t sneaking out the bottom of his Floyd Landis Foundation shorts like some of the other big hammed pros in town. But, good riders come in all shapes and sizes. Floyd was pretty solid looking. I’d guess he weighed 150ish; all muscle, except for his trademark old-man-isque chin. Like a lot of pros, his stomach kind of stuck out, not a beer belly, just a well developed core. Just like I thought he did with Phonak, under a bike helmet, framed between the straps, his bulging chin and facial features make him look a little grandpa-ish.

Now, in my line of work at a radio station, I meet more than my share of famous people. I rarely get autographs or pictures, because I feel like signatures and snapshots should be reserved for only the most die hard fans. The only time I really felt star struck was meeting Garth Brooks. For the record, the way I was feeling, Floyd ranks right up there with Garth. Just as nice and down to earth too. We all talked about bikes, beer and the storm that was forecast for overnight. Floyd asked my opinion on his helmet. I said I thought it looked a little motocross like. I held back my grandpa thoughts. Since we had pre-rode different sections of the course, we told Floyd how sweet the first stretch of single track was and he and his boys gave us some insight to the last few miles.

I remember telling Floyd that BioWheels Charlie Miller told me that even when Mohican gets muddy it doesn’t get muddy. Mountain bike speak for the trails drain well. Out of all BioWheels racers, Charlie rides Mohican the most. We were pretty confident that even if it rained hard, the trails would be fine, or at least that what we told ourselves. Floyd brought up how it had rained at the first NUE race in Tennessee and caused some mechanical headaches for him. But, now I can’t help but think that something I did or said when Floyd was around had aplay in my unfortunate race. While I don’t know where Floyd finished, I know he didn’t snag a podium spot on Saturday. It rained all night before the race and turned about 75 percent of the first 25-27 miles of sweet single-track into a snotty deep sloppy mess.

Saturday morning the gun went off and 300 riders shot out of downtown Loudonville and up what seemed like a five mile climb that disintegrated from pavement to a steep snotty-mud 50 yard hike a bike. I managed to stick with the front group of 40 or so when the pack split near the top. There was a $100 prime for the first rider to hit the hole-shot and pro’s had the race strung out in the front. I was close to red-lining, but who isn’t headed into a hole shot at a mountain bike race. I fell into a good groove at the top and once we got in the woods, the pace was fast, butnot too bad. I didn’t feel like I had gone out too hard. A few passed me. I was riding hard, but not as hard as at shorter races. My HRM, set so 100 percent registered my lactate threshold, went between 95 and 98. Close, but still 5-10 beats from the red zone. I had trained well, we rode this section the day before, and I’ve spent many days right at those numbers for two hour rides. This was the start. Within a bit, the line of riders would stretch out, I’d find my rhythm for the day, my heart rate would drop down to an all day pace and all would be good.

Fog hung in the valley. It was a hot and humid morning, probably in the mid to upper 60’s and headed for 85. Within the first few miles of single-track I was covered in mud. The thick trees kept the wind out of the woods. The race started stretching out. I fell into a steady pace, but my heart rate didn’t follow, still half-jacked at 95-98 percent of LT. Chain suck! I pulled over, back pedaled, and a few riders snuck by including two teammates. Mitch and Stevenoffered assistance, but I was good. Back on the bike. However, I think the rush of a mechanical put a whammy on me. I dialed back my pace, let riders pass when they came up on me, but still couldn’t get a groove going. 5 miles later, BioWheels teammate, Bill Baldwin came up, rode a mile with me and I let him go. Then Amanda McKay, BioWheels teammate and eventual two time female winner of the 100k, rolled up. We rode together for a couple of miles, stopped at the first aid station at mile 15, and pressed on together.

The section between miles 15 and 32 was the worst. While there was a sweet section of single-track that the rain hadn’t affected, the rest was a complete splashy slog fest. Up and down. Two hike a bike sections. BioWheels’ Chad Irey passed. Later I’d find out he had to MacGyver a pedal for 15 minutes and still caughtme. If my HRM had an engine heat gauge, the needle would’ve been tickling the “H.” I started to figure it out,my radiator wanted to blow. At one point, I did a quick calculation in my head and realized I was in for an eight hour day at this pace. I’ve never rode a bike longer that 6-7. My goal was to finish in 6 and a half hours. I wanted to quit. I was miserable. My legs felt decent, but any little push would send me over the edge almost to the point oflightheadedness.

At mile 29 or so, we crossed Highway 3, a straight shot back to Loudonville. I nearly headed back to the truck. I thought about dropping out and laid a bunch of negativity on Amanda. She smiled and just kept saying, “You can do it Joe.” Nate caught and passed me too, just before aid station 2 at mile 32, broke his chain and I stopped to assist. We slapped in a quick link and rolled up to the aid station. Even stopping to help a teammate didn’t help. I was cooked. Literally. Like a wrestler training to get down to weight, I felt like I was wearing a plastic bag for a jersey. I was eating and drinking a lot, but I just couldn’t sweat enough to cool down. Amanda’s encouragement helped me decide to stop for as long as it took to get my temperature down and my wits together and then make a call on pressing on.

I grabbed five Scott’s thick paper shop towels at the aid station 2, got ‘em wet and pretty much took a bath. Ahhh! I downed water and sat down at a little café table with another rider. We didn’t say a word; just sitting at a table in the middle of a bike race said it all. I started to cool down and come around. Fat guys in Performance jerseys started to roll into the rest stop. I had to get going. The next aid station was 12 miles away and it was a mostly road section. I decided to bite off this race one rest stop at a time. And, so the day went. Feel good for 5-6 miles, overheat, and slog it out to the next stop. Rinse and repeat. Eight hours and 45 minutes after the 7am start, I crossed the finish line and the promoter Ryan O’Dell slapped a Mohican 100 commemorative pint glass in my hand.

I haven’t seen the official results. Judging that I didn’t see Floyd at the awards, I’m gathering he didn’t have the best race either. I’m guessing just like me he’s struggling with a case of the Monday morning post race maybes. I‘ve thought about it long and hard, giving Floyd a beer had to be good Karma for me. Shooting the shit with the locals had to be good Karma for Floyd. The Mohican 100 was just another reminder that Karma only gets you so far. Bike racing is hard and there’s a lot more suffering than glory. You can’t train for everything. You just got to do your best, look for the good times and hold ‘em dear. Sharing a beer with Floyd was the highlight of my season. Something I’ll remember far longer than any good showing at a race. So, I’m feeling like all thosehours of training did pay off in a way. It gave me the avenue to have a pre-race beer with Floyd Landis. And, just like Floyd, now I know what it’s like to suffer all day in the saddle and I have a pint glass in the cupboard to prove it. Here’s to you Floyd!

Nice You Tube Photo Montage Video of Mohican 100 2008

Tags: Mohican, 100, 2008, <AHREF="HTTP: rel="tag" target="_blank" Race? tag technorati.com>Race, Report, Results, News, Floyd, Landis, NUE, Series, Mountain, bike, MTB

Look 4 Joe Biker at Mohican 100

2008-05-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I'm going for the TV time instead of race winning glory. I've got the horns zip-tied to my BioWheels team lid and I'm headed up to Ohio's Mohican Wilderness to be on the starting line with Floyd Landis, Chris Eatough and the other heavy hitters of the National Endurance MTB series. While I'm gonna wuss out for the 100k, that'll give me more time to drink Fat Tire ales, snap some photos and blog via mobile throughout the weekend. I'm hoping for the cycling mag money shot, me with my horny devil helmet off the front at the start. We'll let ya know how it goes.

Tags: Mohican, 100, Floyd Landis, Chris Eatough, National, Endurance, Mountain, Bike, Series, MTB, Horned, Helmet, Devil, Biker, Cyclist

Born Again Sidi’s

2008-05-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

They’ve got dropped by Jeremy Powers at a UCI race in Detroit. They’ve stood on the podium of the KOORS mountain bike series. They’ve hike-a-biked up Pisgah’s Black MTN trail and bombed down Hawaii’s Haleakala. They’ve been clipped into four of my own and countless rental bikes. These are my Sidi’s. They’re at least six years old and they’re still kicking.

I tried on new MTB shoes the other day. $200+ price tags dangled from buckle. Ooh they felt good. Soft Sidi’s. Moldable Shimano’s. Still, I couldn’t bust out the Mastercard. I got my six year old Sidi’s at a Wright Brothers going out of business sale for $125. I’ll never see a deal like that again on high end mountain bike shoes. I decided to give my old kicks another nip and tuck.

You just can’t kill Sidi’s. Damn them. Guess that’s why they’re worththe big price tag. In the past I’ve replaced the buckles and straps. I’ve lost and replaced the toe spikes. They’re on their 3rd set of insoles. Still the leather is soft, the stitching is in tact and the soles are stiff. They’re well past nine lives.

This time, I replaced a cleat screw that a teammate lent me on the trail. While the screw he gave me worked for the last hour of our ride, it was too long and poked the bottom of my foot. In went a shorter one. Next I super-glued the ends of the hook and loops back down to the straps. The sole was slightly coming away from the toe of the left shoe, so I shot some super glue in there too and clamped it in the vice. I tightened the buckles back down with a Phillips screw driver. Then I scrubbed ‘em with a stiff brush to get the dust and chunks off, hit ‘em with some soapy water and scrubbed some more...twice. One last time, I sprayed ‘em with the soap and water solution and polished ‘em up with a shop cloth. I relubed the threads of the toe spikes and tightened ‘em back down. To finish ‘em off, I tossed in some newer insoles from another set of shoes. Here they are. No wonder they’re called Dominator.

Born again for another season. Amen!

Tags: Sidi, Sidi's, fixing, replacement, durable, mountain, bike, shoe, shoes, maintenance, Shimano, moldable

Gimmi a Carbon Fiber Jimi

2008-05-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

(photo stolen from someone elses blog because there's no way I'm putting a photo of my ID on the internet)

Jimi could be the new Sram Red. Sram Red was the new Crocs. And, now I own a Jimi along with my Red and Crocs. If I got a Prius to haul my bikes around with and an I-Phone to blog while on rides, I might not feel so out of touch. For now I’ll have to settle for feeling just a tish on the cutting edge with my Jimi and Crocs while blogging at Mount Lookout Joe’s coffee shop with my grocery cruiser leaning against the wall.

The Jimi (www.thejimi.com), according to the well humored packaging, is the wallet for people who hate wallets. Really, it's the greatest cycling accesory since the beer cap headset topper. Personally, I like wallets, just thin utilitarian ones that others can’t see in your pocket so your ass still looks fabulous in your Friday night dancy pants. Don’t tell me you don’t think of that, style man. Just give me enough room for a drivers license, cycling license, credit card, insurance card, a coupla bucks and I’m a happy two-wheeler. That is until I get sweaty, my leather wallet gets the funk, money turns to sog and my acidic perspiration starts peeling the plastic coating off my cards. Hello Jimi.

You can see from the pic, the Jimi is essentially a high tech $14 plastic bag. It’ll keep your basic crap safe from sweat, rain, blood and mud while you ride. Plus, being made of a hard plastic, it’ll probably fare a little better if you were to drop it when you go for GU out of your jersey pocket. It might just save you some road rash in case of a wreck. Fancy stud muffin roadies might keep a condom safe in their Jimi in case the podium girls get a little frisky. It’ll definitely save you from looking like a tool when you whip out your plastic baggy of credit cards in front of coworkers the day after a night ride. Granted you could go through 8 boxes of 50 count Ziplocs to equal the cost of one Jimi. But, then again that’s 400 bags in the landfill as opposed to one Jimi. So, there’s a green aspect in the mix, plus Jimi donates a portion of proceeds to some environmental cause.

The Jimi is more than a small plastic box, a bit smaller than the latest Crackberry. The Jimi has space to easily arrange 4-5 cards, has a removable money clip, closes tight to be relatively water resistant, and even has a place to string a lanyard or a carabineer through it. It’s a multi-sport wallet. Plus, like the I-Phone and Crocs, they come in a bunch of different flavors. The big downfall…they should really make one out of carbon fiber, charge $74.98 for it and make ka-flipping gillions. Crap! DidI say that out loud? No really. No one would buy that. You'd loose the farm Jimi!

Tags: Jimi, Wallet, Cycling, Carbon, fiber, mountain, bike, multi, sport

Training With A Ball Peen Hammer

2008-05-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

I know way too many naive local road racer types who do well in races and think they can crush anybody on a bike. I’ve been trying to train for what will no doubt be a mountain bike race that’ll keep me bouncing in the saddle for 6 ½ to 7 hours. Since then, I’ve paid more attention to others who do these endurance type of races exclusively. I’ve sucked their wheels. They’re the guys you see on steel cross bikes with old three cross Ultegra wheels, 5 year old Shimano 105 and wearing what appears to be an obnoxiously over packed Camelback motoring solo down the road. It would be a rare day if they ever showed up at a race that you’re in and an even rarer day if you showed up at a race that they’re in. That rarer day is May 31st at the Mohican 100.

Like the Tinkoff team attacking at mile zero in a stage of the Giro, these guys have wired themselves to ride long, strong and solo for a quarter to half a day. Centuries are for wussies. These guys routinely churn out 120 mile rides on the weekends, sometimes they do the double 7 hour day. I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for them, one because it takes a certain type of lifestyle to dedicate so much time to cycling and two, because these guys can rip your freakin’ legs off and not even know it. It’s not a clean rip either, like attacking on a steep climb. They do it slowly, twisting and pulling your quads apart strand by strand with a relentless churning of the cranks. They possess a certain type of power, like an Ohio River Tug boat. They aren’t going win any town line sprints, but surely after the 10th town line, in the 3rd County, they’ll be the only ones left to contend for the 11th. And, even if you dropped them with a few early attacks, no doubt they’d catch you four hours later and completely demoralize you.

The last few weekends, I’ve tried to get a few long rides in. I’ve gone four, four and a half, five hours. I’ve doubled up with a short ride in the morning and the local hammerfest at night. The 6+ hour ride still eludes me. Life gets in the way on the weekends too. The grass still grows. Laundry piles up. Cat hair collects in the corners of the kitchen. Not to mention, more than six hours on a bike is just plain tough. I’ve been feeling good after those long rides, like I still have 2 hours left in the tank. And, I’ve been trying to build confidence in myself by doing stuff immediately after the ride such as doing yard work or cleaning the entire house top to bottom. I figure if I do a 4+ hour ride and then spend another 2 hours cutting the grass, pulling weeds and trimming the yard that I should have the endurance and core fitness to do a 100k mountain bike race. Unfortunately, aside from riding a mountain bike on trails for 100k, there’s only one other thing that can give you 100% confidence for the last 2 1/2 hours of the Mohican 100. Get out a ball peen hammer and whack your quads ten times each and go out for a two and a half hour ride.

Tags: Mohican, 100, Ball, Peen, Hammer, Cycling, Endurance, Mountain, Bike, Race, MTB, Long, Ride, Bike

How 2: Clean White Bar Tape with a Ten Dollar Bill

2008-05-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

So clean. So pure. So fast. So dead. I murdered my white bar tape last night. The weapon was a horrible almost unspeakable goopy black grease, the type of goop that can only be created by winter wet-lube with over a hundred miles on it in 80 degree weather. I can barely look at my bike. It’s hideous. No doubt my speed will suffer. We all know 4 out of 5 bike shop mechanics agree; white bar tape is the fastest. Greasy white bar tape is inferior. I must fix this immediately.

All the omens were there. I wiped my wife’s chain clean before our ride. If you don’t take care of your partner’s bike before yours, you’re a buffoon. Unfortunately we, like every cyclist on earth, were running late and the rag never touched my chain. The omen. We had 15 minutes to make a 17 minute ride to catch the group. Chain left greasy, the stage was set for group ride horror on Mt. Carmel Road.

Mt Carmel is a steepish 2-3 mile slog between Broadwell and Rt. 32, a turn-off from Roundbottom Road, one of Cincinnati’s bike arteries. It starts with a slight but noticeable grade on Broadwell and about two-thirds into it, rears up for a few steep pitches before topping out near Rt. 32. At the crux of the climb, I downshifted to my 25t. The chain shifted past the 25, over and down to the zero tooth between the cassette and my Kyseriums.

I’ve seen it before. The last time was in the middle of a UCI Elite CX race at Harbin Park in Cincinnati. Game over. That time, it took 2 shop mechanics, a chain whip and a cassette removal tool to get it rolling again. This time, I was an hour from home riding with five women and a buddy of mine, whom I was riding behind and was 100 yards up the road before I even got off my bike.

“Honey, grab the car when you get home and pick me up. I’ll walk back down Broadwell to Roundbottom to Newtown to Wooster. Just look for me.” This was so bad, that was my actual first thought. I flipped my bike upside down and assessed the suck. When I grabbed my pedals and moved the wheel, I saw immediately that the chain wasn’t really stuck. It could move between the inside of the cassette and the hub. I was able to spin and pull the chain until one link was left lodged. Ah ha! A moment of genius. If I spun the wheel so the lower part between links lined up with the spoke and cassette edge, I could get it out. Turn. Tug. Turn. Tug. Free! Woo hoo! I wiped some dirt on my hands to sop up the grease, jumped on and high tailed it up the climb.

My wife had already turned around and was on her way down near the top. If you’re relationship isn’t on this level, you need to start cleaning and fixing your partner’s bike before your own. “Oh your bar tape,” she exclaimed. I looked down and the goop was all over. No amount of Goo-B-Gone, Lava or citrus degreaser would save it.

It’s raining today. I’ll see ya at the shop. First to replace the chain and cables on my wife’s bike. Then to put new bar tape on mine.

Here’s some web-tips from Team Estrogen for cleaning white bar tape, however I find that pointing a 10 dollar bill at a roll of fresh white tape under the glass at the bike shop counter works pretty good too:

Mr Clean Magic Erasers work great...just wet them and wipe the bar wrap gently a few times. Dry w/ a towel. Works great.

Powdered clothes washing detergent. Make a paste out it with water and scrub the tape using an old toothbrush. Wipe of with a clean, damp rag. Voila. The granules from the paste makes a nice non-abrasive cleaner and it seems to refresh the finish nicely.

OXICLEAN! This stuff does the trick. I use the powdered formula, mix with some warm water. Use an abrasive kitchen sponge - the kind that are "scrubby" on one side. Gently scrub the tape with the cleanser and let it sit on for a few minutes.Wipe off with the non scrubby side of the sponge. Scrub harder if your tape is particularly dirty.

Link: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?referrerid=1984&t=12660

Tags: How, To, White, Bar, Tape. Clean, Cleaning, Tips, Cycling, Road, Bike, Cincinnati

The Headwind Made Me Late

2008-05-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

Boss: Biker! You’re late.

JB: I’m sorry Mr. Man, but there was a pretty stiff headwind this morning, which set me back a few minutes.

Boss: Headwind? What, did you fly in this morning? (chuckles and looks around for approval from the receptionist)

JB: Speaking of fly…

Boss: Oop! (zips up) (receptionist laughs for real)

JB: Well I didn’t fly, but I was flyin on my bike at about 17mph most of the way. It would’ve been more like 19 and I would’ve been on time if it wasn’t so windy.

Boss: You rode your bike to work?

JB: Of course! It’s ride your bike to work week, didn’t you get the memo. Go green. Save the planet, be healthy and all that crap. Where’s your bike chief?

Boss: Bike? Ha, I haven’t ridden a bike since I was a kid. (chuckles)

JB: I can tell

Boss: Please?

JB: (Did I say that outloud? Oh shit!) Uh, I can tell, sir, you’re really interested in learning more about riding a bike to work.

Boss: Yeah, but I have to wear this suit, meet clients, there’s not a shower here…I can’t ride a bike to work.

JB: Tell me big hoss, did Paris Hilton say “I can’t” before she made her famous video?

Boss: No.

JB: Of course not, she droped and rolled. Did Sangia say “I can’t” at his American Idol audition?

Boss: No

JB: Of course not, he changed his tune. Did Nick Cannon say “I can’t” before he proposed to Mariah Carey?

Boss: No

JB: Of course not, he went from D list to A list with one word. So, tell me again why you can't ride a bike to work?

Boss: Thanks for the encouragement! You’re a model employee Joe Biker!

JB: Thank you sir.

Tags: Bike, To, Work, Day, Week, Office, Space

Bike Barn, McDowell and Rubio's Fish Tacos

2008-05-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

This entry deciated to John Gatch of the Two John's Podcast (link on right) for kicking me in the pants by saying, "you gotta update your blog man!" So here ya go, sometimes cycling gets in the way of blogging.

(Biowheelin' Rachel on McDowell Mountain's Pemberton Trail)

I could feel the heat off the tarmac on my chest as we attempted a 50 mile road circumnavigation of Phoenix’s McDowell Mountain Preserve. I was in for a sweaty nipple chaffer for sure. The deejay on Mix 96.9 said it was 90 degrees just before we rolled out of the Arizona Outdoor Adventure (AOA) lot, where we rented our Trek 5000-105 equipped road bikes. In case you’re as stupid as I am, for all cycling purposes, Phoenix has no trees. Well yeah, there’s trees, but they’re short, thin and whispy and don’t line the roadside. When you road ride in Phoenix, unless you’re zipping through a lush Scottsdale subdivision with tall-privacy fauna, plan on being in the sun all day long. Get your ride done before noon. Don’t be fooled, even if the thermometer reads 85-90, rest assured it isn’t going to feel like a little toasty Cincinnati June. The black asphalt collects the heat and when unsuspecting people from the north ride on it, it releases with all it’s fury. If it’s 90 in Phoenix, no doubt the heat radiating off the road is a solid 120. We turned around at mile 15, cut the ride to 30 miles, went back to the pool and planned a morning mountain bike ride later in the week at McDowell Mountain.

For the record, the AOA bikes were fairly nice. The shop was the closest to McDowell Park (arguably the most fun trails near the city). The shop mechanics were really nice to boot. The guy behind the corner answering the phones, staring at his computer screen and being rather unaware that he was the customer service point person and the whole image of AOA rested with his demeanor…uh not so much. You know Chloe, from the TV show 24, who always looks irritated and has to take a poop? This guy was the male version. If you ever go to Phoenix, give a call to AOA, and if you realize you’re talking to someone who sounds like a rep from your health insurance company when you’re trying to resolve a claim issue, hang up. Then, rent your bikes from the Bike Barn located at 36th and Indian School Road, between downtown and Scottsdale. You guessed it, it's a cute red barn shaped building full of Specialized, Trek and custom Lynsky bikes and a wonderful staff. When we called, they asked for our sizes and when we showed up about 20 minutes later the bikes were ready and they were happy to offer a map and show us the best rides. Wow! People who know that cycling is fun! Sure, it was a slightly longer drive from Bike Barn to McDowell, but the kindness, generosity and enthusiasm of the entire staff was worth it. And the mid-level Trek Fuel’s from Bike Barn rode great and were about 10-15 dollars cheaper than AOA.

At McDowell, we tackled the desert of the 15 mile Pemberton Trail. It’s the perimeter trail and is a fantastically scenic and relatively easy ride in the foothills between McDowell Mountain Road the mountains themselves. McDowell is also the home of the “competitive track” which is a novel idea that other park’s should consider. There are a few loops of trails dedicated to fast riding, racing and training. It’s a great way to keep the high-speed racers apart from the back country hikers. We, however, chose to ride the more tourist trail network just west of the “competitive track.” The trailhead has bathrooms and showers. The ride starts of with a rather steady but easy grade climb for 5 miles or so before getting into a section of easy ups and downs at the base of the mountain. The only tough thing was keeping the bike going straight through some 20-35 yard sections of dry pebbly creek beds. The last 5 miles or so are a hoot of a downhill, an easy big ring grade with sweeping turns, high-speed pebbly creek beds, and a few quick ups and downs. That's how vacation rides should be, fast and fun.

If you ever go cycling in Phoenix keep these three things in mind: Bike Barn, McDowell and Rubio’s Fish Tacos!

Tags:Phoenix, McDowell, Mountain, Bike, Preserve, Cycling, Review, Shops, rentals, trail, road

Celebrities On My Bike: Augustana

2008-04-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

"She said, I think I'm going to Boston," that's how the song goes. Chris and Dan from the band Augustana stopped by the Joe Biker studios and we're diggin' on the Jamis Xenith Pro with the new Sram Red groupo. Judging by the size of my little gut paunch and how skinny muscicians are, I'd bet they'd make pretty good climbers, provided they have the lungs. They were asking about how far the local road races are. I said about 65 miles and they said a buddy of theirs does those MS150 type rides. Rock on Augustana. There's always someone who knows someone who's a cyclist...or a rock star. Check out the video for Augustana's hit song "Boston" below:

Guitar Picks On My Bike: Augustana

Joe Biker Note: it's a pretty heavy gauge Dunlop Rhino Ultex 1.14 pick! Bike is a Niner Air 9 with King Headset and Rock Shox Reba.

See Joe Biker archives for more "Celebrities On My Bike" like the band The Bravery.

Tags: Celebrities, on, my, bike, Augustana, Chris, Dan, road, bike, Jamis, Xenith, Bravery, The

Ride Sightings-Hoot & Annie

2008-04-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

These little cuties are nesting at Cincinnati's Mitchell Memorial Forest where the Cincinnati Off Road Aliance (CORA) is currently building mountain bike trails. Names are being tossed around for the nesting owls, I thought Hoot & Annie was the best posted on Ohio Mountain Bike Association forum. The nesting owls are protected by the park, but if you keep your head up while you ride, maybe you'll catch a glimpse this summer...or a dropping.

Tags: Cincinnati, Mitchell, Memorial, Forest, CORA, trails, mountain, bike, OMBA, Ohio, Bike, Association, Off, Road, Alliance, Owls, Hoot, Annie

Super Atomic Anticipation

2008-04-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

Cool aerial photo of East Fork Stunts from benandangie on Flickr

The kooks have been kooked up too long and now they are kookoo with a capital K. The internet trail forums and groups started buzzing last week with the promise that Cincinnati single-track could possibly have a chance to be dry, or at least dry enough to ride. Dry enough is all we want. Last week a guy on the Haw Ridge yahoo group said that basically the trails were crap but the kayaking was good. So far the Cincinnati area has seen nine inches above normal precipitation for 2008 according to a weekend report from Buttface, the double chinned weather guy on WCPO Channel 9. I feel the same way. Today is the 4th day of the first dry stretch of weather we’ve literally had since early January. Since then we’ve seen 10 inch snowfalls and mudslides. My Niner Air 9 has been cleaned, tweaked, lubed and waiting to be ridden in the dirt for the past 3 months. It’s like being a snowboarder waiting till Thanksgiving to carve a turn. While some have been able to sneak away to drier areas like Tsali or Mohican in recent days, most mountain bike riders haven’t put knobs to dirt since early January. For most it’s been road rides, trainers or breaking out the cyclocross bike and taking out frustrations on an urban assault ride. I actually rode my mountain bike on the road the other day solely to remember how it feels. It’s all coming to a bubblinggurgling super atomic head tonight at East Fork. They can’t wait another day. Squirrels and bunnies we apologize in advance for the ruckus that’s about to befall you. Wet spots be damned. Tonight’s the night. Right now there’s a guy buying sausages and buns. Right now, someone’s mashing their suspension fork. We’ve been patient. We’ve done our winter trail work. Now, we just want to ride.

Tags: East, Fork, State, Park, Mountain, bike, biking, trail, singletrack, rideable,

Ride Sightings: Tree Goats

2008-04-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

First off, I didn't take this photo, but from what I hear it was taken at a NORBA race at Haw Ridge, near Knoxville, TN. I came across it innocently looking for a recent trail conditions update. So, yes, I do believe it is a real goat in a real tree near mountain bike trails I occasionally ride. Haw Ridge...apparently...is home of the tree goat. Oh yeah...don't forget your helmet.

So, I dug a little deeper into Tree Goats on the internet and discovered that some goats really do climb trees as these cute little fellers in Morrocco. And, now you know the rest of the story.

Tags: tree, goat, goats, haw, ridge, knoxville, TN, tennessee, morrocco, mountain, bike, trails, riding, racing, NORBA

World Champion Woody

2008-04-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

I wish this was an April Fools joke, but not so. Just a funny web-find, source below. If you got a great caption, like "Quality Flooring in 2 Minutes or Less," post a comment or send an email to joejoebiker@aol.com.

For more silly Quickstep Photos see web address below:

http://www.tdwsport.com/imagedesk/reportages.php?item=&year=2007&step=showrep&repID=20071812

Tags: Paolo, Bettini, Quickstep, Woody, Photo, Caption, April, Fools

Quiz: You May Need a MTB Ride

2008-03-31T14:15:00.000-07:00

Quick!

What brand are the grips on your MTB?

Can you name one person you rode with on your last MTB ride on trails?

What exactly does it say on your MTB headset cap?

If you were unable to answer those questions in under fifteen seconds, you probably need to put some air in your MTB tires while your check your grip brand and headset cap. Unfortunately for those that live near Cincinnati, we haven’t put knobs to the dirt since mid January. It’s been raining on and off for two months now. While the road bike is a road grit magnet, the only movement my Niner Air 9 has seen is from one side of the workshop to the other. Oh yeah… I just remembered that my grips are grey, black and silver and are those new ergo type. I still can’t recall the brand. Ergon maybe? And I know I have a King Headset, but couldn’t tell you exactly what it says on the cap if my life depended on it. Think my last MTB ride was with teammates Mitch, Bill, Brandon, Steven and a few other dudes at Caesars Creek in January. There was snow on the ground. It was at the crack of ass. It was bitter cold and I think someone’s fork lost air. Shit…I better check the fork pressure too.

Tags: MTB, mountain, bike, quiz, rain, trails, dirt, ride, race

C1 Baby!

2008-03-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

UPGRADE FOR OVCX’s BioWheels/United Dairy Farmers CYCLOCROSS

UCI Elevates Cincinnati Area Race to C-1 Status

Press Contact Information: SpectaSport LLC

kenmacpr@...; 610-397-1950

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 31, 2008; Conshohocken, PA, USA: “Harbin Park’s a C-1, baby!” That’s how Mitch Graham, promoter of the annual BioWheels/United Dairy Farmers Cyclocross in suburban Cincinnati Ohio, announced that the UCI had granted an upgrade for the race. Last year’s C2 race drew a who’s who of North American racers, punctuated by Barry Wicks and Katie Compton, who won the featured UCI races. This year, the race will be held on Sunday, October 12 as the capstone to a planned three-day weekend of UCI-sanctioned OVCX cyclocross racing in Ohio.

The BioWheels/United Dairy Farmers is part of the Ohio Valley Cyclocross Series. Taking place in majorMidwestern cities, the fourteen-event OVCX series is one of America’s largest series. And, with no fewer than five internationally sanctioned races (including the Louisville USGP weekend), it is also one of the most prestigious.

Tags: BioWheels, Bio, Wheels, Harbin, Park, C1, UCI, CX, Cyclocross, Cyclo, cross, 2008, OVCX, Series, United Dairy Farmers

I Love You Curly Fry

2008-03-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

The fish sandwiches from Arby’s almost did me in. I was worried. Yes, it was two Arby’s fish sandwiches and damn they were nearly as nummy as the curly fries. Don’t tell me you can pass up curly fries. I want to do well in some races this year, but hell if I’m skipping an occasional box-o-curly fry goodness, especially if a coworker is treating. Luckily, I commuted to work via bike yesterday and planned a ride afterwards. Good thing it was in the mid 60’s and I was able to knock out nearly a 2 and a half hour ride after work. Otherwise, the scale may have read a little more north of hitting my goal weight of 164 this morning.

I’m right on track and relieved. I’m 164 today and was 170 on January 25th. Six pounds in about 2 months. Halfway there, even with my curly fry vice. Despite a little setback with meniscus surgery on my knee which kept me sidelined from running and hard rides for nearly a month, I managed to hang on to my weight loss schedule. Technically, if you've been reading this blog, I've gained 2 pounds in the last 3 weeks. However, I had knee surgery 2 weeks ago and was grateful just to hobble up and down the stairs for a while. You can't get discouraged if you gain here and there. That's why we set time bound goals. I’m not shooting to loose 2 pounds every 3 weeks, but to be at certain weights by certain dates till I get down to 158 by the end of May for the Mohican 100. Luckily I was 4 pounds ahead of schedule prior to my knee surgery. Onward we charge. Six more to go.

The weight loss has been easy and I attribute that to a handful of changes I made way back in January. The changes were based on the principals of being realistic, easy to execute, built in opportunities to slack off, and there were just a few of them. My mantra has been “calories in-calories out.” Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of potato chips, Braunschweiger and twisted fried potatoes. But, I’ve also had my share of applesauce, salads, yogurt and Crasins. As a reminder to myself and a refresher for you, here the five changes I made:

■ Eat breakfast every morning.

■ Eat good foods immediately after workouts.

■ Eat healthy snacks.

■ Figure out how many calories I generally need, actually consume, and burn on a given rest day.

■ Set a weight goal and track my progress weekly.

Note: for more details visit the Joe Biker Archives at the link above

At first it was hard to change my bad habit of not eating breakfast, but after eight weeks it’s second nature and I’ve found that Dannon Frusion smoothies are quick and easy even if you got to run. I’ve found new snacks. Yogurt and Golden Grahams is a new fave and an easy fix to replenish the body after a ride. And, after a week or two of looking at the labels of the foods I eat, it’s easy to estimate my caloric intake without going through extraordinary lengths or list keeping. After rides, I regulary check the calories burned on my HRM, add it to my daily burn average of 1900and then I have a good idea of how much I can eat and stay under the limit.

The good part is that we’re past the time change now. We’ll just keep getting more daylight everyday and the riding weather will only continue to get better. I’ve lost six pounds probably averaging 8-10 hours per week of exercise. In the coming weeks we’ll see 14 to 16 hours per week of riding. So, if I just keep it up, the last six theoretically should come off quicker than the first.

Tags: cycling, weight, loss, curly, fries, arby's, program, training,

Nys On The Market, BioWheels Maybe?

2008-03-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

According to reports in the Belgian press, cyclo-cross ace Sven Nys may not be leaving his Rabobank team for BIOWHEELS next season, and is supposedly not facing a choice between remaining at Rabobank or moving to the BIOWHEELS squad. Newspaper Het Laaste Nieuws has not reported that Nys will move to BIOWHEELS, although an unofficial communication from the team confirmed its interest in the rider, but denied that a contract had been signed.

"I have signed for no one and also not given my word," Nys told SportWereld. BIOWHEELS "...and my present employer Rabobank are..." not "...the teams from which I will choose. My manager has..." not "...spoken with..." BIOWHEELS "...and is now waiting to hear how Rabobank will react. The decision can still go each of these ways."

"I am just back from a holiday in..." CINCINNATI "...with the family," he added. "And on Sunday we depart for..." PERFECT NORTH "...to go skiing. It will be at least two weeks before a decision is made."

Tags: Sven, Nys, Not, Signing, with, Biowheels, Cincinnati

If There's One Good Thing About Injuries

2008-03-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

Looking out the window and seeing the Saturday morning club runners train for the Flying Pig Marathon just bums me out. I envy the dude commuting to downtown in racer gear as I drive by, cursing my misfortune and the fact that I have to drive to the doctor’s office over lunch. Downtime sucks, but if there’s a sliver of goodness in it, it is this. I finished the bible sized book I’ve been reading since early September: Outside’s 25.

While my knee surgery has set me back about 4 weeks in my training and will likely delay my fitness peak for the Mohican 100, I finished the behemoth 600 page book with a naked climber on the cover while icing my knee for the um-hundredth-time. 100 pages a month is a pretty sad average. However, most of it was done 5-6 pages at a time on the toilet, that’s time well spent. It was cool to re-read the original pre-book, pre-movie, "Into The Wild" article. Better yet, I’ve learned a lot about snowboarder Cara Beth Burnside, mountain adventures in Patagonia, the Hana surfing girls, and the last whale hunter in the Caribbean.

What’s great about these non-fiction, real life stories about perseverance, adventure and dream seeking is that a few weeks off the bike race training schedule is pretty piddley compared to waiting years for the opportunity to jump on the back of a whale, harpoon in hand, hoping and failing to provide an island worth of food to your neighbors.

Here’s the Amazon.com review of the book:

From Publishers Weekly
Outside's gem of a silver anniversary anthology gathers 35 articles, most published within the last five years, that exuberantly extend "the boundaries of adventure storytelling." The usual suspects show their leathered faces, of course: Sebastian Junger profiles Bequia native Athneal Ollivierre, the "last living harpooner," John Krakauer reports the sad story of Chris McCandless, who spent 113 days foraging in the Alaskan wilderness before succumbing to starvation, and Paul Theroux explores the island of Palawan. But lesser-known or (better-known for other things) contributors also grace these pages: essayist and This American Life regular David Rakoff gets sent to survival school, Susan Orlean hangs with the Maui Surfer girls and Sara Corbett (Venus to the Hoop) pays tribute to the determination of professional skate- and snowboarder Cara-Beth Burnside. Divided into themed sections ("Tracks" contains travel stories, for instance, while "The Fall Line" showcases accounts of "risk, danger, crime and ethics at the sharp end of circumstance") but consistently dedicated to the celebration of wild people and wilder places, this is a volume sure to please lovers of nature and fans of sharp, engaging prose.

http://www.amazon.com/Outside-25-Classic-Frontiers-Anniversary/dp/0393325032/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206103778&sr=8-1

Tags: Injuries, Down, Time, Reading, Book, Review, Outside, 25, Adventure, Mountain, Bike, Racing, Into The Wild

The Schwinn Continental

2008-03-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

(Photo of '75 Schwinn Continental-looks to be a fixie)

I haven't even seen it yet, but I'm about to be the proud owner of a 70's Schwinn Continental. The guy said it was a '77, but I've looked at the catelogs and didn't see on in the line up for that year. 1976 and prior, yes. 1978 and beyond it was a Continental II Sport. I'm not really sure what I've got myself into. Regardless, the Continental is a pretty cool looking ride. So, I've been reading up on Schwinn's Restoration Forum: http://www.schwinnbike.com/heritage/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5

Photo: 1974 Schwinn Continental-dig that chrome fork crown

I wasn't even a teenager in the 70's, but old enough to oogle at the Le Tour that the big kid down the block rode. So now I'm immersing myself in the nostalgia and the different ways crazy bike people keep these sweet rides alive.

Photo: From Schwinn Restoration Forum not sure on year of this Continental

It doesn't seem like there's a right or wrong way to do it, whether it's vintage restoration, historic preservation, making it a single speed or busting out the sawzall and turning 'em into low riders, the only rule seems to be to keep the bike rolling and to keep as much of the Schwinn heritage in tact as possible. One thing is for certain, I do want to make it a single speed for the simplicity of it and that I think the bike looks cleaner and more artisticly simple without all the cables, derailuers and gears. Then again, if I can get the chrome as shiney as the photo below, I might keep the chainrings, derailuers and cables.

1970 Schwinn Continental-love that apple green paint

I've been snapping up little tidbits here and there. From what I can gather the Schwinn Continental was a middle of the line road bike and retailed for about $150-170 in the mid to late 70's. The later models had a full chome fork w/ chrome-finished stickers.

Unsure on year of this Schwinn Continental-but dig the blue & chrome look

I pick it up tonight. I'm expecting a barely working rusty piece of crap, but hoping it'll turn into something like the bikes in the photos I found.

Tags: Schwinn, Continental, Restoration, Preservation, Single, Speed, Vintage, Road, Bike, Race

White Death Riding

2008-03-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

(Cincinanti's famous downtown Fountain Square with snow)

It’s not derived from the Coca plant, but in Cincinnati they call it “White Death.” We’re expecting eight inches in the Queen City today. Eight inches of snow in the Nati is about as common as a beach in Kansas. As a result, Cincinnati is equipped for eight inches of snow like Denverites are equipped to scuba dive. It’s not that people here don’t know how to drive in snow. Cincinnati is one of those places where most people really aren’t from around here, but from snowier places like Milwaukee, Cleveland and Pittsburg. I even know a few people from Colorado and Washington State. The issue is that the area is ill equipped for any snowfall more than 2-3 inches in a day. There’s not enough salt and not enough plows to handle it. Add to that rolling hills, complete lack of flat straight roads, overconfident non-natives, reckless locals with bald pickup truck tires and the forecast calls for certain death. The quirky thing about it is that every time we get a crazy snowfall like this, businesses close and let their workers go at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. While it seems like a smart move to get people safe and sound at home, every single time it causes complete gridlock in the middle of the day that lasts HOURS. I live six miles away. My commute home will likely be about 45 minutes to an hour today. While I’m not looking forward to the commute, I am looking forward to being home at about 3:30 with plenty of time before nightfall to jump on my Niner Air 9 29er and head out into a snowy winter wonderland.
Tags: Snow, Bike, white, Death, cycling, riding, snowy, snowfall, Cincinnati, storm, March, 2008

Cinti Cycling News - Newport Hot

2008-03-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

BY AMANDA JOERING | AJOERING@COMMUNITYPRESS.COM

NEWPORT - With its abundance of sidewalks and close proximity to businesses, homes and downtown Cincinnati, Newport is a biking hot-spot in Northern Kentucky.

This realization has lead a coalition of merchants, residents, city officials and the Northern Kentucky Health Department to start Bike Newport, a group dedicated to promoting the community as bicycle-friendly.

The group began when Bob Yoder, Newport's main street coordinator and Jason Reser, owner of Reser Bicycle Outfitters on Monmouth Street, began talking about the high number of bicyclists in the city.

"I have really noticed a lot of bicycling around here in the past year," Yoder said. "I noticed that in the summer, bike racks throughout the city were always full."

In order to better accommodate the large number of bicyclists, the group is working to get a bike rack put on every block of Monmouth Street between Third and Tenth streets and in public parking lots, Yoder said.

"This is something we can do to make bicycling better for people in Newport," Yoder said. "This city is very easy to ride and it's a very walkable and bikeable community."

Reser said he hopes to make Newport the first bike-friendly city in the area, because it does a lot for the community like reducing the citizen's reliance on oil and reducing motor vehicle traffic.

"I want more people to feel comfortable about biking in the community," Reser said.

Bike Newport goes hand in hand with other city projects, including the Raymond Motors program, which is an effort to turn the old Raymond Motors building into a information hub for bicyclists, Yoder said.

The group has also planned numerous events throughout May, which is National Bicycling Month.

"May is going to be a really good time for getting people out on bikes in Newport," Yoder said.

Yoder said he hopes all the efforts combined will lead to Newport being named a Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.

Tags: Newport, Enquirer, Cycling, Cincinnati, News