I had some good times on the cannondale track bike.  paradise, double, and even triple paradise loops last year.  it’s what motivated me to start riding my road bike, eventually to race it, so it’s hard for me to really forget…to let go.  I know some riders that go through frames and setups like they change their socks.  there’s nothing wrong with changing your setup, trying something new, or experimenting a bit, but I never found myself doing that.  after spending a lot of time and money on previous builds, I knew what I wanted out of this bike.  a wheelset for the city, something solid and all silver to contrast with the blue.  lots of inspiration drawn from jonathan burkett’s setup, from mash sf.  a woundup fork for a little bit of dampening, longer rake for stability at speed giving more of a road feel to the ride.  titanium chris king threadless headset, just because.  I came across a 1″ threadless moots stem that’d be a perfect mate to the wound up and I jumped.  I had to have it.  chopped 26.0mm profile airwing bullhorns would give me a similar reach to my road bike at the time, the team issue caad9.  plus, everyone always went syntace.  it was time to try something different.  slr saddle to a zero offset masterpiece, later changed to a setback masterpiece and a flite after the slr finally died.  longer square taper dura-ace 7600 track cranks to time atacs for more durability around the city.  then finally, the custom drilled phil wood hubs to reynolds strikes.  not sdv’s.  1 offs.

I loved, and still love, this bike.  farewell.

woke up with shattered legs, figured I should just relax a bit before the week starts again.  I spent some time cleaning up the caad track frame, wheelset, and various components.  still not sure if I want to let the dura-ace 7600 cranks and phil wood mag-ti bottom bracket go, I’ll probably hold onto them for a bit longer.

farewell, cannondale track.

took a peep at steve’s vimeo a second ago, and saw that he had a new video featuring marc’s new low track frame.  dug around a bit, found that prolly had actually wrote about it back in january.  low frames are handmade here in san francisco by andrew low.

as you can see by the tubing, the frame has slightly forward sloping, pursuit geometry.  it’s all aluminum, and comes with an alpina carbon track fork, 1 1/8″.  prolly also mentions that the low frameset was inspired by the 90′s cannondale track, as well as the khs aero (the rarer, aluminum pursuit version).  the bike is looking MEAN.  props to andrew for making a sick track bike.

here’s chas riding his low (photo from prolly)

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check out low’s website!

firstly, I’d like to say I’m extremely happy that this race was completed without any accidents or injury from any of the racers.  that in itself made the race a huge success.  the course was short, technical and fairly narrow compared to the fremont and sacramento crits.  the start/finish line was in the middle of a short straight away, the course swept 90* to the right into another 90* right, a shorter straight with a sweeping left turn, a hairpin, then a sweeping off-camber s-turn, another 90* right, and then the straight away to the line.  I arrived early to register, and to get ready for the race.  the cat5 group was fairly reasonable in size, probably around 35-40 riders.  lots of familiar faces including steve from chica sexy, tim from sjfixed, justin, zach, and gabe from mashsf.  there was a bit of time before the race started to pre-ride the course, so I jumped on the road to feel it out.  riding it alone, at a slow pace, was completely different than with a dozen rides around you though.

we lined up at the start for the beginning of our race.  it started off with a neutral lap, and then we were off.  the pace was kept fast throughout the entire race.  the hairpin freaked a lot of people out, and I heard tons of tires skidding and yelling from riders trying to pick lines through the group.  there were really only two or three safe spots to pass riders on.  either the last 90*, or the straights.  everything else was either two abreast or single-file.  the off-camber s-turn sent riders for a trip, to say the least.  several laps in, a rider came in hot from my right side, cut in front of me, pedal smacked, grabbed his brakes, which made me grab mine…mid-apex on the first part of the s-turn.  my rear tire skidded out, and I thought I’d lose it for a second.  I released the brake instantly, and my tire came back up.  my heart must’ve skipped a beat or two, because it felt like it was about to pound out of my chest afterwards.  I sprinted out to catch a wheel to the front of the group and tried to hang on a couple more laps.

riders were all over the place on this race.  the technical, tight turns meant single file lines would be the most efficient way to navigate through the course, but of course, that wasn’t how it was through most of the race.  riders would come from the back towards the middle or the front, and come hot into the turns.  they’d jam on the brakes, and sprint to catch a wheel.  I found myself sprinting out of the saddle out of every turn, the swelling mid-section of the group was like a giant accordion.  near the end of the race, the front half of the peleton picked up the pace, and formed a pretty nice line through the turns.  I saw steve moving up the group to get near the front.  I was near the back of the break and just wanted to finish without a crash.  steve ended up crossing the line in either 4th or 5th place (congrats!).  I was probably around the top 15 or so…but damn, that was a nerve racking race.

gabe told us that he had been sticking bad wheels throughout the race and ended up finishing with a free lap under his belt.  he was doing pretty well though, which was a bummer.  I saw him moving from the middle of the group farther and farther back.  I know how that goes, it happens to me at almost every race, haha!  I’ve been determined to ride near the front of the group though, it’s the safest place to be.  it’s consistently fast, and riders are usually keeping the line fairly straight.  either way, definitely glad we all finished without any accidents.

I headed back home to drop off my road bike, and jumped on the track bike to run some errands.  also stopped by the old house to see what was going on.

back on the silver wheels.  the bike rides ridiculously smooth compared to the carbon (might just use them for marin riding, or track racing next season).

stopped by freewheel hayes on my way back home to pick up a box of hammerbars.  they seem like the perfect, compact, post-race snack.  I had a sample bar a couple weeks back and they’re delicious.  75% raw, and packed with good fats, carbs, and protein.  mmm.

time to do some cycling laundry, and rest up for the short, furious race in napa tomorrow.

sick sunrise.  the weather is getting warmer, and my face retains feeling throughout my rides now, how pleasant.  the temperatures are around 45-50*, nearly a 10* jump from the previous weeks.  the sun also seems to be rising a bit earlier, I can’t wait until we can roll the clocks back for daylight savings.  today, I decided to hit the same ride and work on my climbing some more.  same ~2700ft of climbing, same hill repeats up mccollough to conzelman.  there was a guy playing a drum set at the very top of the climb, so that was pretty cool.  he should come out more often, it was nice seeing something different for a change.

oh, and some dailies from yesterday that I forgot to upload.  and I’m prefacing the first picture by saying that my company uses yammer, so I had this “AH HA!” moment when I saw the billboard.

and then of course, I have to throw in that dark picture at ghiridelli square.  I haven’t tried any of my routes yet, since I’m still trying to get my track legs back.  switching back and forth from the track and road bikes is taking some getting used to.  hope to pedaling smoothly by next week!

that’s what I’m talking about.  feeding yourself is satisfying.  it seems to be more satisfying when you’ve actually done something though, because then you can say, “yeaaaaa, this enormous salad taste goooood.”  that being said, I actually skipped out riding this morning to give my legs a day of rest for the long week ahead.  not completely sure if I’ll be working a solid monday-friday like the last couple weeks, but if not, it’ll be a well-deserved break.  I did, however, ride my track bike to work along the embarcadero, which was really nice for a change.  the longer cranks paired with the new saddle and setback is pretty comfortable, putting me in pretty much the same position I’m in on the road bike.  getting used to the spin is a bit difficult, but it’s getting there.  I went along the embarcadero to get home, as well.  I want to figure out a short, ~40 minute ride I can push out at the end of the day to release some nerves.  I was thinking about taking the embarcadero all the way through to the marina greens, crissy fields, past the golden gate bridge, through the presidio, arguello, back through the park, panhandle/oak, mission, 3rd, back up through to the stockton tunnel, and home.  might be a bit longer than 40 minutes actually…  maybe cutting through the presidio and straight to arguello would be faster.  I’ll map it out.

here’s a really dark shot from ghiridelli square.

ah, good times.

longer cranks, new pedals, more setback, new saddle, chain tensioner, and trued rims.

my track riding is a bit rusty still, but I’m fairly certain that by the end of the week, I’ll be back in rhythm.  damn, it feels good to be back.

big thanks to freewheel hayes!

a wintery morning, once again.  thankfully, I slept in a bit longer today since I didn’t have to work.  I figured the sun would be out, thawing out everything in marin, but alas, the dense fog contained all the coldness.  thinking about it now, I should have left a bit earlier to push in a bigger ride before I had to drop the bikes off, but oh well.  I headed out towards rodeo beach and did a double loop.  on the first time around, I actually spotted three crooked water lines in the asphalt – ah…road bikes with cyclists out of the saddle.  I caught the last two riders of the bunch and continued around for a second time.  they might not have even been riding together, no one seemed to stop at the top to wait up for anyone, so that was interesting.  at least I had no flats, thank goodness!

heading back into the city was quite interesting.  a MASSIVE group of runners came off the street and onto the shared path along crissy fields (near sports basement), and all of them were looking down at their watches.  there must’ve been at least 50 people running, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group that dense before.  either way, I slowed down to almost a standstill, waiting for them to all pass by, before continuing on…all I have to say is, stick to a side, and allow other people heading the opposite direction to pass.  it’s just courtesy.  I apply the same rules to cycling too.  riding two abreast is fine, but sneak in when a car needs to pass, or another cyclists needs to head the other direction.

I arrived at home and started prepping for the shop.  fitting two bikes in the backseat of a sedan isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but somehow, my road and track bikes both fit.  my mom rode out with me in the car, since we had to stop by our old house to see how things were going.  I dropped the bikes off, and we headed down into the avenues.

new stucco skim coat, window trims, steel beam in the basement, hard wood floor finishing, and tons more.  should be on the market soon enough.

stay tuned for an updated shot of my cannondale track!  *fingers crossed* that it’s done today.

more pre-dawn goodness.  it was pitch black out today, an interesting fog formation hovered over everything.  it reminded me slightly of the independence day, where the ship hovered over the city, but I digress.  you can actually see clear across the water, straight into san francisco, which is pretty awesome.  just another quiet day in marin – I believe I saw 5 riders total, a majority of which were heading towards marin as I was coming back.  it must be the holiday season.  dry roads, with some puddles on descents kept my mind occupied.

as a side note, I’m thinking about jumping back on the track bike for city riding, and twin peaks climbs.  the views in marin are nice, but nothing beats climbing up to see clear down market, as well as shredding through tires all the way down.  I went through 39 tires from 2008-2009 on my windsor and pista concept, clocking in roughly 250-450mi weekly.  it was crazy, awesome, and most of all, fun.  plus, I feel a bit bad for my cannondale track bike, it doesn’t get ridden nearly as much as my road bike.  and I’m sure that riding two completely different types of bikes will help me become more tactile with handling them both.  I’ve learned a lot (and I still have more to learn) since the last time I’ve ridden the track bike.  various things like tire pressure/drop, tire compound, crank length, setback, saddle to bar drop, tilt, reach, etc.  it’s going to be my little side project, since racing my road bike is obviously my priority.  there’s not too much to tweak, I’ve made a small parts list:

saddle: selle italia flite, titanium rails. the vintage shaped one, not the modern one.  the slr saddle is minimalist, decently comfortable, but meant to be used with a chamois and bib shorts.  there’s very little padding for this reason, the same goes for most other modern saddles.  plus, the slr on the track bike is pretty much toasted, I might as well try something new!

cranks: shimano dura-ace 7600 crank arms.  yea, I’ve got the exact same ones on the bike right now…so why buy them again?  well, the ones on the bike are 165mm in length, which is great for shoe clearance on the front wheel, but much too short for what I need.  not sure what I was thinking when I first started riding on 165′s…that was kind of a bad idea.  and I’m fairly certain I’ll have a much nicer spin up with longer ones.  I’ll be going with 170mm on my next pair.  very excited, these cranks give me bedroom eyes.

pedals, shoes: time atac xs, sidi dominator 5.  wowza, 2 bolt pedals and cleats as opposed to running look 3 bolts?  yea, it’s time to make the jump.  I’m keeping my sidi ergo2′s strictly for road riding.  plus, a wonky cleat on the front won’t allow me to walk around once I’m off the bike.  ever try ted-shredding in road shoes?  wouldn’t really work, since there’s no rubber on the bottom of the shoe, just composite material to make it lightweight and stiff.  and trying to shred just on the heel pad…yikes, it’s hard and doesn’t slow down quickly at all.  the dominators will give me versatility and durability for city riding.  and, they’ll work with my custom insoles (another reason why I’m sticking with clipless and not regular pedals, clips, and straps).

valve extenders.  yea, I’m going to run the reynolds in the city.  I built them up to be ridden, it’d be a shame if I let them go unused.  the stock reynolds valve extenders are loose and leak air.  they’re definitely not as secure as the sram or zipp ones on my road wheelset.

and I think that’s pretty much it.  stay tuned for cannondale track v2.1.

met up with jeremiah today at the ferry building.  we stayed for a bit, expecting to see a couple more people (eugene from mash, joshua mcdonald a messenger, and anyone else eugene brought) but no one else showed.  we jetted over to the golden gate bridge parking lot and met up with ben and justin.  track bikes on paradise felt oddly familiar, yet weird since I hadn’t ridden the track bike in several weeks.  it was a bit breezy out, the wind definitely picked up at around 11am.  bummer we left a bit late, but sometimes it’s okay to have a medium paced social ride, right? gotta mix it up, haha.

the downside of leaving late was the amount of tourists and cars on the road.  I won’t get into that now, since it’ll only make me angry.  I just love people that ride in the middle of the bridge path.  LOVE IT.  okay, that’s all I have to say about that.

tomorrow, I’m heading out with justin to do alpine dam on our road bikes.  should be another fun morning, hoping for less wind!