Time to ride!: March 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

old-school TT's and awesome riding in Fred'burg

Great weekend at home! Got to ride out to Manor for Austin Nationals' TT. Was a good chance to catch up with some friends and clients in the "Ghost Town". Only did the Eddy Merckx-style TT without aero equipment and it was a good test-run for future TT's. Thanks to RunFar chip-timing the results were accurate and posted super-fast. I think every TT should use chip-timing, it's not that expensive and it saves a LOT of hazzle for promoters and makes participants happy with instant results instead of waiting around until it's dark. After getting my raffle-ticket "redeemed" for an Arundel cage Adam and I rode back home and that made it a solid 5hr day on the Fisher.

On Sunday we went out to the "real" Hill Country and rode north of Fredericksburg for 4hours. Biggest advantage there: no traffic. We got past by two cars in the first 2hours of our ride. Enchanted Rock was very crowded, though but we "sneaked in" and got our fix at vending machines w/ Dr. Pipp, "as-big-as-Travis' face" cookies, and "as-skinny-as-Adam's-fingers" sour sticks.

If you're in Freddyburg you'll need to get a drink and some Schnitzel at the local micro-brewery a.k.a. Fredericksburg Brewery. Pretty close to home-cooking and the Enchanted Rock Red Ale tastes delicious - especially after a +4hr ride in Texas Hill Country.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

New Year, New Gear - from Gary Fisher!

Thanks to some amazing sponsors our team gets to ride some sweet rigs this year. If you're thinking about buying a Gary Fisher bike - read this, and you'll really like getting one!

Training is one part of the equation to success; having the right gear to win races is the other. Gary Fisher’s new Team Hotel San Jose custom-painted Cronus Ultimate road bike not only looks terrific but also rides excellent when put under pressure.
At 900grams for a 56cm frame the frame is light but most importantly really stiff. Asymmetric tube shapes can be spotted to accommodate the different force impacts on drive and non-drive side while the beefy, 76mm-wide, and oval-shaped down-tube is a sprinter’s dream. No more feeling of “flexing” when cranking out the 1500+Watts! In addition, the Bontrager fork is sturdy and features a tapered 1 1/8” - 1 1/2” E2 carbon steering tube to go along with the tapered headtube. The integrated SpeedTrap sensor on the inside of the right fork arm makes it very simple to receive data for any ANT+ compatible device.

SRAM stepped it up this year and the bike features the companies’ top-of-the line RED group, in addition with GORE Ride-On housing and cables. The RED front derailleur features an aluminum cage instead of the standard titanium version to accommodate the strains of racing where shifting under lot of pressure is a common sight. SRAM’s RED PowerGlide chainrings are also special, featuring the “SPR” model which indicates a stiffer, more race-proven version of the already superb outer, 53t chainring. As far as "cockpit" goes, the bike’s handlebars, and stem are all made of carbon and are supplied by Ritchey Logic. So is the seatpost.

Probably one of the most-advanced parts on that bike are the all-new HED Jet 5 carbon clincher wheels. They’re a great compromise between a deep-dish rim and a low-profile climbing wheel set. The big upgrade for this wheel set is something else, though: The new, 50mm-deep Jet 5 wheel now features a rim width of 23mm. A wider rim does not only improve stiffness and makes for a more stable cornering but is also more aerodynamic as the rim and tire are more in one line now rather than the tire being “on top” of the rim and creating unwanted turbulence in airflow.
Frame: Fisher carbon frame, size- specific layup, E2 integrated headset, BB 90 integrated bottom bracket, asymmetric tube shapes, hidden fender mounts.