chagrin river cyclocross day #1 2010

This was the first race last year were I felt capable and overall in good form for the entire race. I was not dead legged and could respond to other racers sprints and hole shots. The 2009 chagrin river cx was also the first race that I had a real fun time attending. 2010 was just as good if not better. This year there seemed to be a larger crowd and the course though similar to last year was just as challenging and not nearly as wet and muddy. The race promoters put a good deal into this two day event, keg of beer, delicious chili, sweet food things, warm fire $3.00 a dozen free range eggs and a party tent. Major props to them. Saturdays race was costume mandatory so I decided to go as Abraham Lincoln. (side note later that night my girlfriend dress up as Baberaham lincoln and we won a costume contest as Abe and Babe) The costume worked pretty well, and everyone could immediately tell who I was dress as. No one likes explaining their Halloween costume ad nauseum. There were alot of good costumes out there on the course. Though there were still a few who even with the threat of a 30 second late start failed to show any Halloween spirit. Party poopers. Of course even if one shows up in the normal spandex team kit they still look like they just walked off the set of a 'Power Rangers' episode. The biggest costume issue I had was that for authenticity sake I zip tied the top had to my helmet, which added a foot or so of needed clearance on top of my head. Despite my efforts to be evasive I still managed to nail almost every low hanging branch on the course. The hat also proved to be a nuisance on the open field part of the course where it picked up a lot of the head wind. Enough so that in pictures you can see me looking at the ground to help ameliorate the strain the top hat was imposing. The hat wasn't the only mishap I also manage to drop my chain at the beginning of the third lap and spent the rest of the course struggling to chase down everyone who I had already passed. I haven't had a mechanical issue like that in a long time and I forgot how much it break up one's rhythm. I'm still skeptical about any advantage gained by changing to a geared bike. First off, the bike is 25% heavier and when the derailleur gets gunked up with leaves or mud the shifting is very inaccurate. This race I found myself having to shift down two and then up one to get the preferred gear. The tires are the best part of the change over to gears. The $12 a pop kendas have proven to do well in the thick mud, loose gravel and sand but are awful on cornering. As long as I'm going straight I'm okay. Secondly, even after re-fitting my bike and adjusting everything so it's as close to a perfect fit as I and several fit guides can get it my lower back is still killing me. Lastly my race place ratio hasn't changed, now I wasn't expecting an awesome sea change in my ability as a cx racer but I figured getting gears would lead to some improvement. I imagine if I had the money to afford a decent SiS system then I wouldn't be so jaded about going geared. I knew what I was getting into and just had to see if I could diy a geared cx bike from what was in my garage. Verdict: I could and it didn't make much of a difference. That being said I think after the season (which for me is three more races) I'm gonna break out the tools and go back to single speed. Also congrats to Jay Karp for taking the W on Saturday's B race.
I would have like to have raced on day two but decided to stop by the courts for a couple of games of bike polo and then home for some much needed homework catchup.

no need to reinvent brakes

cantilever brakes for dummies

"For instance, substituting 622 mm (700C) wheels on a bike built for 630 mm (27 inch) wheels will degrade the braking.)"


always always always consult sheldon brown before finnicking with the bike....

risers

The change to riser bars has been accompanied with a substantial increase in lower back stiffness. This may be from either not properly setting up my bike, or from not being used to riding with risers or any from number of other variables. An hour of yoga yesterday did the trick on my back, and may have to become part of the weekly routine. Note to self, vacuum carpet before yoga #catfur...

solon crc cyclocross race

The course resembled the upper levels of the game snake where the snake had grown far too long for the screen and is forced to double back on itself ad nauseum. So many left hand turns Aye-Carumba! Early on in the second lap a racer on a blue steelman or dieringer went down in front of me, I saw this happen all in slow motion, and then I plowed into him and unintentionally stepped all over his expensive wheels. I really hope I didn't mess anything up on his rig. I didn't stop to check, again raising the question of sportsmanship. After picking up my bike I ran 4 yards or so around one of the 900 turns and immediately slipped and hit the deck, bike in hand. The course was so knotted and turny that it was pretty hard to find a good place to pass someone. The pecking order didn't change much, I spent 85% of the race trying to catch one team spin rider, and just couldn't. On the last lap, near the same spot that I trampled over the wrecked steelman, the racer in front of me snapped the tape which immediately recoiled and wrapped itself all throughout my front wheel. In an o-crap frenzy I had to stop and pull the tape out, of course not thinking to logically unwrap the tape and instead just pulling frantically at whatever strand of tape I could grab until it was wrenched free.
Again I have no idea where I placed, I assume somewhere in the middle of the pack. I feel this course was not an adequate test of converting to gears as i hardly shifted maybe once the entire race. In other news I was C racer Dave's birthday so they grilled out and gave me a free veggie burger. And it was also Jay Karp's first race back after hernia surgery, and he got a top 10 finish! Major props going his way.

bike report

After a few trial and error tests with different cassette and chain wheel sizes I think the cyclocross bike is set to race.. again. Changing a part, setting up or reconfiguring a bike on the cheap is never as easy or quick as it seems when I start the task. The Centurion is back to having 27" wheels, which make the braking a whole lot better. The cantilevers never worked very well with the 700c wheels on the bike. The original pro tour series came with 27" wheels and maybe its just not as easy to swap wheel sizes on bikes with cantilever brake setups as it is on bikes with caliper brake setups. Live and learn. I had to buy a new set of tires, the only cross style 27" tire I could find are made by kenda. The kenda tires are nowhere near a supple as the ritcheys that I was running on the 700s, but I think they'll do. The price for both kenda tires was less than the cost of one ritchey tire. Having good tires seems to be heavily stressed by most serious races, but most of those people also have bikes made this century. Here I'm trying to weigh the trade off between good tires / light weight and having gear options. If my race performance fails to improve over the next two races I'm probably going to return to single speed. All of these changes and modifications are at the expense of a substantial increase in weight.

the current cost of investment in my cyclocross bike.
tires $25
brake pads $12
brake levers $24
Chain $8
Frame $40
total $109

geared

1x7 with riser bars, for now. we'll see how it works out in the field later this week. A few successful tests around the back alley.

experiment

In an on going effort to do all that I can to not purchase a cyclocross bike I have begun a new experiment to transform my single speed cross bike over into the geared world. I really enjoy single speed cross, and my motives to switch are not entirely performance inspired, just mostly so.... so to say. I just want to try racing with a gear bike to see if it makes that much of a difference. If it does I'll keep it, if it doesn't I'll keep it until its time to tune up the rear derailleur and then change back to single speed. I have always been a firm believer in the adage "a poor carpenter blames their tools", but I do believe tools have their limits I saws-all cuts a lot faster than a regular hand saw. Of course I'm not adding an electric motor to my bike...
I don't really have to money available to spring for a new derailleur and cassette and index shifters. I do however have an old sun tour 8 speed index shifter set from an old gt mountain bike that was given to me. The original drive-train on the Centurion was friction shifting. So with a little elbow grease and some major wheel trueing the Centurion single speed is now a Centurion 8 speed. I had to get ride of the drop bars to accommodate the mountain bike style shifter. Not too much of a loss, I never road in the drops anyways. I'm excited to ride in the fast and shifty new world of geared bicycles.