You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2011.
connor’s pacman themed hunter cycles cyclocross bike. absolutely spectacular in person. shimano dura-ace 7900 hubs laced to hed belgiums – proper.
the sidi screw plate getting replaced.
no plain colored pace caps to be found. I may have to get one online…
Tags: freewheel hayes, gear, san francisco
yea, so I completely forgot to stop to take a picture while out on this morning’s ride. it’s not like there was a plethora of scenery to show, anyway. the fog was so thick and misty that I found myself wiping my glasses constantly just to keep the water at bay. the weather continues to get warmer though, which is good. I think the fog is the atmosphere’s way of saying, “whoa, it got all warm all of a sudden but I’m still cold in certain spots, chill out!”. needless to say, I rode the bike through the gritty sand and twiggy shoulders, catching a ton of ugliness on every inch of the frame. but I guess I’d rather have that, than a flat tire in the middle of no where land – quick, flashback to 2 weeks ago. absolutely horrible.
as I made my way up camino alto, I started catching up to a familiar sight. maurice was slowly making his way up in zone 1, and we chatted for a bit. this is going to be his first season racing – he’s skipping the san bruno hill climb on the advice of dario (whole athlete), but he’ll be out racing the early bird criteriums all january. he was keeping his morning ride brief, so we split shortly thereafter. all alone on paradise drive. minus a couple cars that passed with a few inches to spare. love it.
no more road construction out of sausalito, so that’s a plus. I saw 2 or 3 group rides heading out as I was coming back into the city – one of which was going a bit too fast, 2 abreast and slightly staggered on a section of path that wasn’t meant for more than 2 across. people have a strange sense of spacial dimension if they think they can still talk to their buddy side by side with another cyclist coming straight towards them, hugging a rail on the opposite side of the path. oh well.
I ran through my remaining ‘daily’ chamois cream this morning, and had to resort to some dz nuts. I’m convinced that if I were a baller, I would only buy dz nuts. it really is that good. but I do think this is the day that I’ll finally be less lazy and ride one of the bikes to freewheel to pick up my chamois butt’r that’s sitting on the special order shelf. hopefully they have 2, because it’s always good to have spares. especially with the season coming up. on the ‘buy’ list, there’s also tubes, a tire (probably a gatorskin), cycling cap (the plastic visors on all my caps seem to wear through the cotton over time…), brake pads for the road bike, sidi mtb cleat plate, and I think that’s it. I need to write these things down so I don’t forget.
Tags: cannondale caad10, data, freewheel hayes, paradise loop, san francisco, spotted, weather, winter
french national cyclocross champion, caroline mani (sram-felt), tearing up cincinnati3. note the helmet, skinsuit, socks, and bar wrap. no other words needed.
originally on podium insight.
Tags: girls on bikes
This is a battle and the war is not over. This was one of the many battles to come…It was a very demanding stage. I could tell I was not on great form mid-way through. My objective is to race for the classification, this is my only option. Thirty seconds can be considered small… I have lost minutes upon minutes in other occasions and I always recovered by the end. I learned that they are going strong and will never let off. In the next days, I need to try to continue racing calm – without spending energy – and move closer to them in the coming weeks.
damiano cunego speaking about stage 6 of the tour de france, 2008 – cycling news. photo from steephill.
Tags: pro cycling, quotes
in a perfect world, the saddle bag would be removed for the photo, chain would be in the big ring up front, and smallest cog in the rear. but with a slam like that up front, I guess it just might have to suffice!
originally on slam that stem.
sorry, the camera phone lens must’ve gotten smudged in my ziploc baggie. the roads are slowly starting to fill up with more people. there were a couple more cyclists out on the bridge, and a handful more pedestrians – not too big of an issue, since it was 10 times worse a couple months back with full on tourist season and all. I definitely don’t miss those days. seeing rent-a-bike tourists riding 2 abreast, one of which is always no-hands with a flip camera in the other hand, trying to capture the moment. his eyes fixated on the video camera, and not the inevitable head-on collision with another cyclist about 100ft away. le sigh. I’m thoroughly enjoying the gap between summer and spring, definitely need to ride as much as possible before the impending tourist onslaught.
same quiet loop as usual. I saw several marin residents heading out of their homes to ride around tiburon, but no road cyclists. I’m assuming everyone is still out of town, or just coming out of holiday mode. with new year’s eve/day coming up, I’m predicting more of the same kinds of road conditions next week. and as a compounded upside, the weather has been slowly getting warmer – it may be because I’m leaving the house a bit later, but I have a feeling that the worst of our ‘winter’ has already passed. hopefully the lighter clothes can start coming back out as racing season starts creeping up. the first race of the road season is the san bruno hill climb on new year’s day. a ~17 minute climb up to the top of guadalupe canyon/radio road, a race which I’m not keen on doing because of my horrible performance last season. sitting in the frigid cue line for 10+ minutes was painful, but not nearly as painful as the climb to the top. resting heart rate to anaerobic in 3, 2, 1…
unfortunately, I can’t attend the first early bird criterium because of my cinema 4d class, pretty bummed on that. however, after that weekend, my schedule is clear for crits and circuits weekend after weekend. getting excited for early season races, for sure.
Tags: cannondale caad10, data, paradise loop, san francisco, spotted, weather, winter
ashley james (kccx-fuji) at the cincinnati3 cyclocross festival. note the mini v-brakes. stopping power for days.
originally on podium insight.
Tags: girls on bikes
best looking candy blue paint job I’ve seen on a road bike in a long time. simply lush. 14.7lb even with continental gp4 season clinchers, imagine that…
of course it’s an above category build, tipped from flwrider.
I’m the first to admit that my riding has been a bit spotty, lately. no excuses, other than just feeling lazy, I suppose. either way, I headed out this morning to enjoy more quiet roads around marin. with the schools closed up for the holidays, the paths were empty, once again. and though there were a handful more cyclists out today than on christmas day, it was still feeling very secluded to say the least. the weather was a hair warmer than usual, and not quite as windy as it usually is. unfortunately, I caught the long end of the blithedale light, sitting on my top tube for nearly 3 minutes. that doesn’t seem like a long time, but when you’re riding through some frigid temperatures, the last thing you want to do is drop your heart rate. icicle legs…
then it was riding as usual. I believe I counted 2 moving cars around the entire length of paradise drive, one of which was heading my direction, and the other in the opposite direction. after a rather ghostly ride back through to the path and out of sausalito, I encountered my second abrupt stop. this time, it was road construction on one of the short hills out of sausalito. one lane was closed, so construction workers shuffled cars through the road funnel. and of course, as I unclipped, a car came speeding around the corner from behind me, and slammed on his brakes. then a porsche came speeding around the corner and slammed on his brakes behind him. when the construction guy finally flipped his ‘stop’ to a ‘slow’, the cars sped around me as if they were waiting forever for the sign to be flipped. hmm…case of the monday’s on a tuesday.
I may do laundry and then do nothing for the rest of the day. maybe.
Tags: cannondale caad10, data, paradise loop, san francisco, spotted, weather, winter
julie krasniak (rapha-focus) on her way to victory at the barton park cross crusade, oregon. I dislike the people in the background for not giving their full attention to the pro cyclist in their midst.
originally on podium insight.
Tags: girls on bikes