So, thanks to a piano recital by Sebastien, I’ll be able to do the Murrysville ‘cross race. This should be, umm, interesting, but fun. I am not in race shape. It could probably be argued that I am not at all in cycling shape. My dismounting/re-mounting skills are a bit rusty. And the bike isn’t configured for ‘cross. But, hey, it’ll be fun, at least. I’m (hopefully) going to drop to the cat 4 race (mostly because of time constraints), but if they won’t let me sandbag, I’m off to the old fartsMasters race, which should essentially guarantee a last place.
In other cycling news, Silence-Lotto have salvaged their season. First, Cadel Evans wins the worlds, then Phillipe Gilbert has a three race win streak going into Lombardia. The Fifth Monument should be interesting, as both Evans and Gilbert have indicated they are looking for the win. Evans rode hard in support of Gilbert at the Coppa Sabatini, and one wonders if Evans will expect that in return. Some people have speculated that perhaps Evans should focus on one day races next season, but I see two issues:
1. Gilbert is Lotto’s man for the classics. We know that Evans doesn’t play nicely when not The Man for a particular race that he wants to win.
2. Thanks to the 2010 Tour de France parcours, Evans is not at an immediate disadvantage, thanks to the lack of a team time trial. Lotto still likely needs a strong climber to support Evans (their attempt at landing a super-domestique ended badly with Bernard Kohl’s CERA suspension).
The UCI has given Lance Armstrong’s new RadioShack squad a ProTour license for 2010. One has to wonder if Garmin’s Jonathan Vaughter’s ire will shift from Team High Road to RadioShack, seeing as his team had to wait a year and prove itself to acquire a ProTour license. And related, I wonder what the UCI will do with Astana? Alberto Contador seems mired there, unless, of course, the UCI decides to revoke their license, which likely leaves Contador free to pursue a transfer. The question is, do the UCI brass like Armstrong? Or will they attempt to tip the balance in Armstrong’s favor by sticking Contador with the clearly weaker (and unstable) Astana squad?
Saturday
The official start of “get myself in shape for the Dirty Dozen so I can back out at the last minute” season. I rode Center, High, and Logan with new team-mate Aaron. Good times. I felt pretty decent considering the overall lack of quality saddle time and the previous evening’s choice of hydration. Logan felt quite hard, and at the top, I was doing about 5 rpm. Good thing I put the compact double back on.
Sunday
Climbing at Summersville Lake. I managed a one-hang ascent of Apollo Reed, which was quite surprising, since I made it into the crux before falling. Due to the ever-increasing conga line of folks waiting to fall off climb it, I took a run on the Pod, which went considerably better than last time. One possible goal for the rest of the season could be to do that climb with only a hang at the pod move (which is really, really hard).
So I picked up a set of Titec H-bars (designed by Jeff Jones) for the Kona. The idea is to make it a bit more comfortable for all around riding, particularly on dirt roads and trails. I was waffling between the H-bars and a set of Albatross bars, but thought the H-Bars must be better for the rough stuff.
I should begin with the tale of installation woe. This was not the fault of the bars. At all. The Kona came equipped with GripShifters, and from what I’ve read, the H-Bars really aren’t designed to be used with them, and this is a fact. I did, however, try to (ahem) modify the shifters by trimming them with a hacksaw to get them to fit on the forward extensions of the bars. This was successful only in rendering in the GripShifters useless. Oh well. Fortunately, I had procured a set of old Shimano integrated brake/trigger shifters, but this meant I had to muck with the derailleurs, which is never fun. Add to this the fact that the stock cables and housing were likely too short to be useful and I had a long evening ahead of me.
For a moment, with the brake and shifter cables removed the bike, I despaired that I didn’t have the spare cables and housing to make it work. The Cannondale was in full ‘cross mode, meaning not particularly useful for commuting the rain. Ugh. So I dug through the parts bin, found enough brake cable and housing to hopefully make it work, and set off to getting things back together. The shifter housings are still too short, but at least I can turn the bars. The brakes are mostly set, but I could probably use a longer length of housing for the front brake. I see a trip to Thick Bikes in my future. I did, however, manage to get the bike into ridable condition, so I shook down the bars on the commute to work.
They are quite comfy. Not as comfortable as Albatross bars, but the trade-off is worth a wider range of hand positions. I found myself mostly on the rear extensions, or at the junction between extensions. I need to move the levers to the recommended position on the front extensions (I tucked mine on the rear extensions, just against the junction)–the levers are mostly unusable when I riding on the junction area. The front extensions were less useful than I thought for out of the saddle climbing, but do work well for getting into a more aerodynamic position. I could probably use a slightly shorter stem for a bit more comfort on longer rides, but otherwise the bars feel great. The flare of the rear extensions is more natural than the Albatross bars, too.
Pics will be forthcoming, if the sun ever comes out.
So, yes, climbing it is for the rest of the fall. Unless the weather goes pear-shaped on the weekend, I’ll likely skip ‘cross season. Why? Simple. With climbing, there is no either/or when it comes to spending time with the family–I can have it both ways. “Balance” is built right in. That’s not say I’ve given up riding, or even racing. The Dirty Dozen looms, and I have no good reason to skip this year (unless, of course, we’re climbing). I’ll continue racing during the week next year, though back in the comfort of the Cs (more on this in a moment). And, D2R2 remains on my radar.
So why the Cs? Why the step back? This year was my attempt at being a “real” bike racer. I did lots of road races. Raced Bs at the Oval. And I realized that life wasn’t for me. (A cynic might note that perhaps I’m giving up because I’m slow. Perhaps. But I prefer to think that I sampled another sport/lifestyle, and preferred the one I had already in climbing.) The C races give me a chance to get a good workout once a week, ride with some teammates, and have fun. Maybe the racing flame will be re-ignited at some point. Who knows. But for the moment, the focus is on climbing, and rock climbing at “standards” again, as my friend put it.
We spent seven days in Campton, KY, climbing around the Red River Gorge. The weather was less than cooperative, with lots of rain, heat, and humidity (sometimes all at once, sometimes separately). We still managed to climb parts of five days, alternating between the Roadside crag and Military Wall. I had forgotten how entirely awesome the 5.12 Wall Military is–four amazing routes that manage to stay bone dry, and enough dust and dirt to keep the kids happy.
I had a pretty decent trip, repeating Tissue Tiger (5.12b) at Military and sending Strevels Gets in Shape (5.12b) at Roadside in a few tries. I’m certainly not back to where I used to be as far as my fitness is concerned, but I felt good on the routes–relaxed and willing to really go for it–something that has been missing the past few years.
More to come, including pictures.
[1] Finding Nemo was the theme-movie of the week, and this particular song was apropos, given the weather. I made it my goal to not complain about the conditions (as that is my wont) and just have fun climbing.
I’ve always tried to limit the number of bikes in the stable. For a very long time, I only had the Surly Steamroller. Since I started road racing, there’s always been at least two bikes (the Cannondale and a commuter), and that’s okay, I think. I’ve been toying around with the idea of picking up a mountain bike, or perhaps a do-it-all fixed gear (in the manner of Matt Chester’s bikes). After spending some time, however, looking over Jeff Jones’ bikes, I’ve decided to outfit the Kona Smoke 2-9 as an all ’rounder in the manner of something like this, which could equally handle some riding in Frick, the daily commute, and perhaps a brevet or two. The initial upgrades would be cranks (because the stocks cranks are, well, really lame) and some Titec H-bars.
Of course, it would just be swell to just own a Jones bike, but I’m ready to take out a second mortgage on one of those…
We leave for the Red River Gorge tomorrow. For the first time in nearly three years, I am in some sort of reasonable shape for a climbing trip. My lack of fitness is easily masked when we go bouldering (see Bishop last year), but not so much when climbing routes (see the Red River Gorge two years ago). This time, I have five good days at the New and Rifle under my belt, plus three weeks of finger-boarding. If I can leave Kentucky with a few 5.12 redpoints under my belt (well, okay, one) I’ll be pretty happy. This trip should work toward rounding me into shape to do Apollo Reed (5.13a) before the end of the season.
As far as cycling goes, umm, commuting is going well? The Raccoon Creek CX race is next weekend, and I may go, but I not at all in race shape. I suppose that doesn’t much matter, as I can still have fun, but I’ll be curious to see how motivated I am to make the trip after a week of climbing. We’ll see, I suppose, and that weekend may dictate the rest of the CX season.
