First Race Back: Shawnee Mission Six Hour

I've been back in the U.S. for three weeks. Europe was great, Croatia was gorgeous, but I was off the bike for six weeks...and I hadn't been riding much before I left. Getting back in the saddle was a rude awakening.

I don't think I've been off a bike for a solid six weeks in many, many years. Since getting back, I've been spending my mornings logging in base miles on the road bike. Prior to this weekend, I hadn't ridden my mountain bike since April.

No better way to get back into the swing of things then a six-hour singlespeed escapade!

I mounted some fresh rubber, filled my water bottles and off I went. This was the first Heartland race at Shawnee Mission Park and the trails delivered. Very fast and flowy, with enough rocky sections to make things interesting.

Saturday was hot and sticky. I was looking forward to it. I knew I was not in shape for this kind of event but was counting on my secret weapon to give me an advantage, provided I could turn over consistent laps. The hotter it is the better I seem to perform, relative to others. The reason: I don't cramp. In 26 my years of existence I have never had a cramp.

I had a good start, there was a long grass section leading into the singletrack. By the time we hit the trail everyone had figured out where they needed to be. I traded laps with several singlespeeders of ill repute, Skip from Lincoln and Team Seagal from Saint Louis. The STL crew rolled in deep, nice guys too.

My first five laps felt good. After that, my lack of fitness began to show—I could maintain a consistent pace, but couldn't attack or power up the short climbs. I took a long pit stop to relax after my sixth lap and felt haggard for the last two laps. My hands took a beating from my rigid setup; towards the end I had to brake thru the rough stuff.

I came in from my eighth lap and called it a day. Considering my current level of fitness, I was more than content with a 3rd place finish in Men's 20-29 .

After the race I was looking forward to hanging out with my singlespeed compatriots around the beer cooler, but it was not to be.

"There can't be good living where there is not good drinking."
-Benjamin Franklin

One thing that makes a Heartland race a Heartland race was absent this weekend.
Apparently you can have alcohol in parks in Johnson County.
Boo Hiss.


Things I learned this weekend:

• Maybe a suspension fork is not such a bad idea.
• Hutchinson 29er Pythons are great race tires.
• The key to comfort on a hardtail during a six-hour race is a Ti seatpost combined with a women's saddle—WTB DEVA—my ass has never known such decadence.
  

Disc brakes for all

I'll admit I have a fondness for disc brakes. I came to cyclocross from a mountain bike background. I haven't run rim brakes on any of my mountain bikes since 2000. I am happy to see them going the way of the Dodo.

Here's an interesting story from Velo News to peruse, Next big thing: disc brakes on road bikes.

Cyclocross is a different story.

Banned from cross? Well kinda. Depends on who you are and the sanctioning body under which you race.

Discussions of the pros and cons of disc brakes generally ignite heated debates among members of the cyclocross community

Many of the reasons given for not using disc brakes — weight penalty, overkill for road and cyclocross racing — have less to do with using disc brakes than using brakes designed for mountain bikes.

There's no way around it, discs will always weigh more than canti's. But they don't have to weigh as much as they do now. When it comes to using disc brakes with road levers there's very little selection. Last time I checked the number of mechanical disc brakes designed for use with road levers was two: the road version of the venerable Avid BB-7 and Tektro's Lyra.

Per wheel the road BB-7's weigh in at 361 grams. The Lyra has a published weight of 148 grams per wheel. These weights include caliper, rotor and mounting hardware.

The Lyra is sign of things to come; 140mm rotors instead of the traditional 160mm sizing reduce weight as well as stopping power. The reduction in braking power is not necessarily a bad thing. Disc brakes with equipped with 140mm rotors can provide more stopping power than cantilever brakes while decreasing the weight penalty.

There's a lot more that has to happen than designing road and 'cross-specific disc brakes. Frames, forks and rims all have to be strengthened. Even though it may be small, there's a weight penalty incurred in a disc-specific road or cross bike frameset and wheelset.

There are significant benefits. Disc brakes outshine rim brakes when conditions turn nasty. Mud, water, sand and ice wreak havoc on rims and brake pads while decreasing braking performance. Discs are less effected by adverse conditions. Wheel changes can be faster with discs, flip the quick release, pull the wheel out — no fussing with the brakes.

If I were to make a prediction, it would be that as commuter bikes become more prevalent, so too will disc brakes for road and cross. I don't think Sven Nys or Tim Johnson will be straddling disc-equipped race bikes anytime soon, but for the the weekend warrior — for whom a cyclocross bike is a commuter / utility bike first and a race bike second — discs make perfect sense.

Saying goodbye to an old friend

I enjoy having a garage full of bikes, but at some point enough is enough. When a bike sits unused for the better part of a year, and I have no motivation to take it off the wall, it is time to say goodbye.It's silly to get attached to full-suspension bikes. At the end of the day, they're disposable. The shock, linkages and bearings will wear out eventually. Even if you can find replacement parts a few years down the road, the pace of lighter/faster/more efficient hype has passed you by.

Full squish notwithstanding, this bike is hard for me to let go of — 2004 Specialized Stumpjumper, 30th Anniversary Edition. She served me well through my undergrad years, skipping class to explore the unending maze of trails that crisscross the George Washington National Forrest. My first expert race, first Shenandoah 100, my first 24 hour race and many great trips to Moab were spent aboard this bike. Fit and performance were perfect for my riding style...at the time.

A few years ago while in the throws of a bad case of bike shop burn-out, I'd had enough. I couldn't stand working on my own bikes anymore. Something was always broken, needed adjustment, etc. I'm very particular when it comes to bike setup. Full suspension magnified this. Shock pressure, rebound and damping all had to be just right. Enough was enough. Bikes should not be money pits, and more time should not be be devoted to upkeep than riding.

In a fit of "fuckit" I stripped the gears off my Gunnar Rockhound, tore apart an old cassette for its 17 - tooth cog and got lucky, 32 x 17 work without a chain-tensioner. Perfect.

The Gunnar was a stopgap until I acquired a 29'er single speed. Since then the Stumpy's four inches of travel have not been needed. And, honestly, the bike feels damn weird to ride now.

Ciao bella.

Mass street hysteria

Within seconds of winning the national championship, fans spilled out of bars and onto the streets of downtown Lawrence. I've never seen so many people celebrating together. Everyone was in good spirits, many were three-sheets-to-the-wind drunk.

Festivities were much the same as Saturday night: total strangers giving each other hugs and high-fives, drinking in the streets and occasionally exposing themselves to the crowd.

By and large, everyone got along. The most the police did was to confiscate bottles and cans, "chug it or pitch it they'd say," plastic cups were fine.

Go here go see pics of the Mass. St. hysteria.

Brew to Brew

Saturday night KU beat UNC, shortly thereafter Lawrence became the drunkest city in the nation. Mass. St. turned into Bourbon St.

Sunday morning was the 14th annual Brew-to-Brew. A 44 mile race from the Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, Mo. to the Free State Brewery in Lawrence.

Sunday morning came very early. I've felt better and I've felt worse — but I've never run 11 miles feeling that bad. Our four man team, "The White Trash Avengers," was spearheaded by fearless leader Mr. Joshua Stamper. I was most certainly the weakest link. I did my best to finish my legs of the race in a respectable time, despite my overindulgences of the previous night.

Weekend in review - 6 hours of suck

I've been delinquent in my updates as of late. Real life has taken precedence over the interwebs...

Saturday, March 29 was the Spoke Pony Showdown. The weather was perfect, the trails were fast yet tacky. I ran Continental Mountain Kings — 29x2.2 — corners were railed with precision.

The only thing thing absent was my fitness. I had some "gut-rot"— even if that had not been an issue, my legs just weren't there.

I think a lot of it had to do with the hard winter we've had in the Midwest this year. I actually had some base miles racked up last winter. Not the case this year. As a result, I fell from a second place finish in 2007 to somewhere in the middle of the pack this year.

It was still a good time. This was my first real mountain bike race of the year. I had as much fun catching up with friends whom I only see at races. I could have spend another six hours chatting and drinking free beer.

Issue #2 Now Available!

Cyclocross Magazine's second issue is hot off the presses!

If you already subscribe, you've either got your hands on it, or will shortly. If not, you can subscribe here.

Issue #2 is jam-packed with tech articles, product reviews and interviews with all the winners at 'cross nationals in KC. Not just the pros, we mean everyone, juniors, masters, you name it, we got'em.