March 2007

I have been riding the Colnago a bit and it is a very nice bike, extemely stable and light. The only problem is that the crankset is a standard road set, 53 and 39 tooth rings, which is a bit big for a more mature rider, like myself, with bad knees. So I have been contemplating a change to a ‘compact crankset’ with 50 and 34 tooth rings to give me some lower gears for climbing. Since the drivetrain is fully Campagnolo, to keep it pure I have been looking at Campy compact cranks. Specifically I would like a 2006 Centaur silver crankset. Silver, because cranksets should be silver; I cannot see why there has been this recent trend towards black cranks and rings. The year designation is because of ridiculous, in my opinions, features of the 2005 and 2007 cranksets.

In 2005 Campagnolo launched their modern ‘compact cranks’. Everyone else in the world making ‘compact cranks’ at the time was just using the old standard 110mm Bolt Circle Diameter (BCD) standard. Campy used the 110mm BCD pattern, too, but for only 4 of the 5 bolts. They used a slightly larger BCD for the 5th bolt, saying that the non-standard alignment of that bolt was necessary to ensure proper alignment of the rings. Of course no one believed that, preferring to believe that the move was to ensure that users could not use third part rings on their Campy cranksets.

In 2007 Campagnolo changed their cranksets to use what they call ‘Ultra-Torque’, an two part spindle integrated into the crank arms and spinning on outboard bearings held in cups threaded into the standard bottom bracket threads. Shimano introduced a similar system a couple of years ago, but Campy held firm at that time staying with the tried and true square taper spindles. Shimano had moved away from the square taper a number of years ago, moving to a splined bottom bracket. I see no real reasons to move away from the square taper; the only real problems have been with folks who have not torqued the cranks onto the tapers tightly enough and thus have ruined perfectly good cranks. The splined BB spindles, both the Shimano Octalink versions 1 and 2 and the ISIS, have not really resolved the issues of poor mechanics. Enough folks have misaligned the splines and ruined either the BB, the cranks, or both to show that the splines were not a good fix for that problem. The only other reason cited for splined BB’s was that it allowed a larger, more robust spindle without adding weight though no one showed that the old square taper spindles were not sufficiently robust.

It looks like I am doomed to adopt the outboard bearings of the ‘Ultra-Torque’ system if I want a Campy ‘compact crankset’. Campagnolo cites the following reasons for moving to this system: lightness, rigidity, ergonomics, and maintenance, which I will touch on in reverse order. The maintenance advantage is that standard hexagonal ‘Allen’ key wrenches are used to tighten the bolts of the system. While ‘Allen’ keys may be standard, the large 10mm key used to tighten the bolt has limited use on bikes, and most square taper system use 8mm ‘Allen’ keys. You still need proprietary BB tools for both systems. The only extra tool needed in the square taper world is a crank extractor; big deal. The argument for ergonomics is even more ridiculous. The marketing hype states that riders no longer have to shift cleats for ankle clearance, presumably because the spindle end of the cranks are further outboard. But pedal/cleat placement is a factor related to the other end of the cranks, and since ‘Q factor’, the distance between the ends of the two cranks has not changed, the placement of pedals and cleats is unaffected by having the spindle end further out. Rigidity has not been shown to be a problem in the older designs, so what is the advantage? And finally to the argument for ‘lightness’. A 2006 Centaur ‘Compact Crankset’ weighs 646g; add 233g for the Centaur BB with 111mm spindle and the system weight is 879g. The 2007 Centaur ‘Compact Crankset with Ultra-Torque’ weighs 828g; add 49g for the outboard cups and bearings and the system weight comes in at 877g, a whole 2g or 0.2% savings. Whoopy! So I am left to ponder: why is the world moving to the outboard bearing systems?

It was time to get down to some bike maintenance this weekend.  Sunday morning I realized that of the 4 bikes I own that only a single bike was in a condition to actually ride.  One bike (an 1998 Trek Y-Foil 66) is being stripped down to sell with some parts going to the Colnago C40.  The Colnago was stripped down to clean the drive train and to convert the rear wheel from Campagnolo compatible hubs to Shimano compatible hubs so that the wife and I can swap wheels.  And the Trek 400T commute bike was out of commission waiting to get spokes to repair the rear wheel that was damaged a week and a half ago.  Only the Tallerico touring bike was operational.  Sigh!

Sunday afternoon I spent finishing the cleaning job on the Colnago drivetrain, then tore down, cleaned, and rebuilt the Chris King hubs on the wheels that had been on the Y-Foil.  I then swapped the old 9sp 12-25 cassette for a new 10sp 12-27 cassette and mounted the wheel on the Colnago. I added a new SRAM 10sp chain, and then realized I had no Campy derailleur cables.  Rather than file down the end on a Shimano cable, I ran to the bike shop and stocked up.  I replaced the right (rear) derailleur cable, adding a JTek Shiftmate Model 1 to handle the difference in spacing between Campy and Shimano.  On Monday morning, after adjusting the derailleur, I joined the wife on a 17 mile coffee shop loop to try out the new shifting; it all works great!

When we got back from the coffee shop there was a package containing the 291mm Wheelsmith 2.0-1.7-2.0 spokes needed to fix the Trek.  I sat down and replaced the 9 damaged spokes, carefully weaving them into position.  I pulled out the truing stand and ran through tensioning, centering, and truing the wheel.  When it was good enough I remounted the tire, pumped it up, spun on the freewheel, and prepared the Trek for the Tuesday commute.

I am now feeling less guilty.  I now have 3 operational bikes, and the 4th just needs to be sold off ASAP.  Anyone want a 56cm Y-Foil?

I stop at stop lights and stop signs.  That does not mean a foot down stop, rather a ‘no forward momentum stop’ which often means a track stand.  I try to be courteous to all others which includes following the standards for right-of-way.   It annoys me when drivers, out of courtesy, fear, or whatever, wave for me to go out of turn at an intersection.  I have no idea what other vehicles will do, and I try to impart the message that cyclists are part of the traffic flow and can follow the predictable, and legal, rules of the road.  Last night there was a guy, at 2nd Ave and Fremont in San Mateo, who would not take his turn through the intersection.   There was a car stopped on 2nd, I was northbound on Fremont waiting to turn left, this guy was southbound waiting to go straight.  He had the right-of-way, and was insistent that I make my turn.  The guy on 2nd was waiting, I was waiting, I was signalling him to take his turn, telling him to take his turn, doing everything to get him to end the standoff and do the legally correct thing.  Yet he kept sitting there, holding up traffic and trying to wave me through.   Sheesh.  I finally went straight through the intersection and took a different route, telling him to follow the legal rules for right-of-way from now on as I passed.

For the past couple of weeks the weather has been great; sunny days, temps into the 80’s on some days, dry, everything that makes for good cycling weather.  And the number of folks packing into the bike cars of the train has been steadily increasing.  Last night the bike car on the way home was over-full  part of the time, more than the prescribed 32 bikes.  I have taken to standing mid-platform in hopes that the train will have a 2nd bike car, one less obvious and thus less full.  It has worked frequently enough I will continue employing the tactic.  This morning it started to rain, lightly, just as I left home.  Temperature was lower 50’s, sky was cloudy, all in all a bit gloomy.  Recent mornings there have been 12-15 bikes waiting on the platform when the train arrived.  This morning I was the only one, but somehow 4 more cyclists appeared from somewhere while I was boarding.  The bike car was almost empty when I go on at Mountain View.  Only a handful more cyclists boarded as we travelled north.  Is everyone afraid of a little rain?

All apologies to Ralph Nader for the title, but a thorough examination of the bike I was given this week has shown one major safety issue. On the front wheel of the set of Nimble Crosswind’s it is obvious that one of the blades is starting to separate from the rim body. Cracks and lifting of the carbon fiber connecting the blade are an indication, and a light tap has the different resonance than the other blades and a slight rattle. This wheel is unsafe to ride, in my opinion, and I have contacted the manufacturer for information on a possible replacement.  Update:  The manufacturer will replace the wheel body for a mere $390.  Hmmm, I could build a nice, aero set of wheels based on standard deep dish rims for less than that …. for a pair.  And the weight difference would be minimal to non-existent.

My friend Erika sent out a call on Friday for a ride, possibly to the coast, early this morning.  The meeting time was 8 AM at her house, 10 miles from ours, meaning I would have to leave home by 7:20 at the latest.  Ughh.   I had been non-committal on Friday, but this morning I got myself ready and was to her place at the designated hour, the only person there other than Erika.  As I was leaving home there was a consideration of what outer garmet to take, a jacket or a vest.  The wife convinced me that the warm weather we had been having, and was forecast for the day, argued for the vest.  About 8:30 Bob and Ann showed up and we rolled out heading west.  We wound through Palo Alto, then onto Sandhill making our way to Old La Honda.  Bob and I got out in front, and arrived at the base of OLH about 3 minutes in front of the ladies so we pulled up to the bridge to wait.  When Erika arrived, at 9:09, she said Steve was going to meet us there at 9:10 … amazing timing if it happened but Steve was a couple of minutes late.  While we gathered and talked there were two large groups from Tri clubs start up the hill, and another group of about a dozen riders forming at the base.

Finally assembled, Erika announced that her and Ann wanted a head start so the three guys needed to wait a bit longer at the base.  The ladies started, and we talked for a couple minutes more before starting our own ascent.  By the first turn I was in the lead and continued to put additional distance between myself and the other two guys.   At about the 1 mile mark I turned around and went back a bit to regroup, staying with Bob and Steve to near the top.  We passed the ladies at about the halfway point, stayed with them briefly, then pulled away slowly.  I was feeling good, so when we were about 200m from Skyline I sprinted out to the top, surprising a few of the Tri folks whom we had almost caught by that time.  We reformed at the top and discussed options.  Erika’s back was giving her problems, but she wanted to go down the west side to at least La Honda; Ann opted to go back down the east side, and headed north to Hwy 84 for the descent.  The four of us remaining started down W. OLH and I was doing a great technical descent but keeping it slow enough to enjoy the California Poppies and Indian Paintbrush blooming along the roadside.  The descent convinced me that the decision to go with the vest today had been unwise; we were descending into fog with a slight on-shore wind flow, meaning it was quite cool and was likely to remain that way for the rest of the day.  At La Honda we pulled into the small store so Erika could buy some Tylenol, but she opted to try to beg some off the couple manning the control for a brevet from Santa Cruz.  She did not score the drugs, but we had a pleasant, brief conversation before continuing westward to San Gregorio.  Along this stretch Bob pulled out in front and was continuing to pull away, so I decided a chase down was in order.  I gapped the distance in a few minutes and found that the fast pace was his way of trying to warm up.  We alternated between pulling hard and soft pedaling depending on whether warmth or regrouping was the dominant feeling of the moment.  In the end we decided to just do our own pace since everyone knew that the San Gregorio General Store was the destination.

When we arrived in San Gregorio the store was jumping.  Some of the tri folks were there, the four of us, and then the other group we had seen forming at the base of OLH, a group of Google employees as it turned out, was regrouping at the store.  We bought hot drinks, snacks, and sat down to listen to the live Irish folk singer when the discussion turned to the route home.  Bob mentioned it would be interesting to head southeast along the coast to Santa Cruz then have someone pick us up; Erika loved the idea but no one had an idea of whom could get 4 cyclists and bikes.  Erika suggested we get some student to take us over for a donation, or that we just stay overnight and ride back on Sunday.  I was more of the mind that if we rode to Santa Cruz we should just  bite the bullet and ride back over to the bay area. In the end, given the cool, foggy weather we opted to return and chose Tunitas Creek as the preferred route.  After a long hiatus sitting just feet from the wood burning stove we finally extricated ourselves, put our shoes back on, and made our way to Tunitas.

As soon as we started up Stage Road, Bob again took a lead and I jumped on his wheel.  We waited for a regroup at the junction with Highway 1, then charged ahead northward and onto Tunitas Creek Rd.  Once on the road, we soft pedaled until Erika and Steve caught up, during which we were passed by the Google folks.  The four of us stayed together talking solar energy until we were well into the redwoods and the steep middle part of the Tunitas climb.  At that point I started to pace ahead of the group and was soon passing the back end of the Google pack.  Bob soon joined me and we stayed together briefly but it soon became apparent that his time with a personal trainer the past few months gave him a bit more power than I could muster and he soon pulled out ahead.  After the gradient eased I charged hard and passed much of the Google crowd by the time I got to Skyline, not far behind Bob.  We sat back for a few minutes for Steve and Erika, both of whom were fighting back issues.  It was so nice and sunny at the top, and Erika was so psyched about being able to make the climb, that we stayed a bit longer than planned during which Erika continued to prod the group to extend the ride.  Bob, Steve and I were all more of a mind to wrap the ride down, so we finally agreed on a direct descent down Kings Mountain, through Huddart Park, then over to Portola Rd and Alpine, from whence Steve would head north, Erika east, and Bob and I southeast towards our respective residences.  We followed the agreed upon plan, except Erika made a final decision to follow Bob and I up Arastradero Rd. to the top where we could ‘do a proper farewell’.  After saying our goodbyes, Bob and I stayed together until near my old condo where he split to head back north a small bit and I worked my way eastward and to home, finishing with just under 75 miles and a voracious appetite.   My first coastal run of the year, and I did not feel too bad for the punishment!!

I took the freewheel off the rear wheel of my commuter to inspect the damage from last night’s incident. One spoke broken, the other 8 with the head outside the flange on the drive side are munged, a couple nearly ready to break. Looks like 9 spokes to replace. Wonder who has 291mm Wheelsmith double-butted 2.0/1.7/2.0 spokes in stock?

… I had a bad case of chain suck leading to one broken spoke.  Until then it had been a nice ride except for some crazy drivers in Redwood City.  I left work about 5:30PM and headed for the train station to catch the 5:43 southbound.  But a half mile north of the office I decided it was too nice to take the train, did a U-turn, and headed south.  After working my way past Highway 92, jogged to Delaware, made it through the Bay Meadows parking lot, and started a fast cruise along Old County Road.  Just before Holly, as I slowed approaching another cyclist, I was passed by a guy on a LiteSpeed Solano.  After passing the San Carlos train station I caught up with the LiteSpeed and we kept pacing each other at 20-23MPH.  In Redwood City I took B Street and he took A Street, we took different routes and ended back together at Jefferson and Middlefield.  We watched each other’s back, yelling warnings, as we navigated the craziness of Middlefield through Redwood City.  We stayed together as we traversed Atherton, Menlo Park, and most of Palo Alto.  At Loma Verde he headed east, and I continued southward into Mountain View. As I approached Sierra Vista, the light was red so I started slowing and moving into the rightmost through lane when the chain suck occurred.  The chain caught on something, the cranks locked, and I stopped suddenly.  I did not see any damage at first, so I pulled the chain back onto the freewheel and started on my way when it became obvious that something was wrong; the rear kept autoshifting.  I checked again for damage but did not see anything in failing light.  I finally decided to make for home, accepting the constant shifts.  At home it became obvious that there was a pinch in the chain at one spot, and one drive side spoke had been broken … on the wheel I just rebuilt!  Guess I will be doing a wheel repair later this week, riding one of the other bikes until then.

For the past few weeks I have been musing on the idea of getting a new, lighter bike. The idea is to have a bike which will allow me to keep up with my wife, who is now much faster, and to have a bike I could ride in an occasional race. When I got to work this morning my boss asked me to walk out with him. At his car he pulled out a bicycle and wheelbag, handed them to me, and told me they were mine to do with as I wanted. The outfit belonged to his older brother, Kurt, who died of a heart attack last year while riding. The size looks like mine, and it is definitely lighter than any bike I now own. It is a Colnago C40 carbon-fiber frame with an Alpha-Q Sub3 fork, a Chris King headset, Stella Azzurra ViceVersa stem holding up Stella Azzurra Profi handlebars, a Stella Azzurra Monza carbon fiber seatpost, and Campagnolo Chorus 10 speed shifters and drive train. Rather high zoot. The only problem: how to get two bikes home tonight?

Today it is spring. Not by the calendar, but by the weather. After days of below average temperatures, today the pattern reversed and the mercury climbed above 70 Fahrenheit with clear, blue skies. After a morning of life maintenance (grocery shopping, starting a rebuild of a rear wheel for the commuter) I got my act together and left about 1:30P for a ride. I was not sure where I wanted to go, so I headed northwest figuring I would work out a destination as I pedaled. Soon, the allure of climbing, BIG climbing, was calling. But the BIG climbs - Mt Hamilton, Mt Diablo - are too far away, so I headed for the local fallback ’somewhat BIG’ climb, Page Mill Road. I was riding my old Trek Y-Foil, the lightest bike I have at the moment, and as I started up I felt good and all was working well. As I turned the corner past gate 1 into Foothill Park, starting the first 14% grade, the legs started saying ‘enough already’. I ignored them, and kept pushing, but the legs would not surrender to my will.

My mental strategy for Page Mill is simple; I devolve the task into a number of smaller tasks. The climb as a whole becomes: the bottom section (Arastradero to gate 1), the first steep section (gate 1 to where it levels out about 1/2 mile above gate 2), a short rolling section, the second steep climb (from about 1/2 mile below gate 3 to the crest just before ’shotgun bend’ near gate 4), another rolling section, the steep climb near the Los Trancos parking lot, and the final section to Skyline. Along the second steep section, as the legs are screaming ever louder, I see two cyclists off on a berm talking, one of whom has a gold colored 1998 Y-Foil 77. Y-Foils were never common, and becoming less common as time passes, so I usually stop to chat to ‘Y’ riders, but today I know that the legs will not start again of I stop. So I press on, later to find out from another source that one of these guys was likely a rider on an Aids Ride training session whom crashed and was waiting for SAG support, which made me feel worst for not stopping and helping.

Just before the steep section to the Los Trancos parking lot is a slight descent coming into a curve then a first step of the climb, then the relatively short but very steep (almost 20% grade) section to the parking lot entrance. My riding strategy on this part is to power the descent into the curve, continue with power after rounding the curve and use momentum to go over the first step of the climb. At that point I start to downshift so I can spin up the steep part. Today some ‘dude’ in an oversize truck came racing up as I was following this strategy; I suspect he wanted me to pull over and let him pass. I held my spot, not wanting to give up the momentum of the run, and fortunately he did not press the issue.

At the junction with Skyline I had a choice: back down Page Mill, across to Alpine Road, and down to Pescadero Rd. then climb back up, north to Hwy 84 and down then southward to home, or south to Hwy 9 then descend and head north to home. I opted for the latter, since I hate out and backs, and did not think I had enough time left to do the second and third option and still make it home in time to fix dinner. The entire 6 or so miles to Hwy 9 the legs continued to cry ‘enough’. In the past, climbing hills has been second nature and rarely do the legs complain this much. I realize that the lack of regular hill climbing the past two years, and especially the past year, is taking its toll and I need to settle down and do more hills, concentrating on hill intervals for now.

At the top of Hwy 9 I am relieved to put the screaming legs to rest for a while. I pull over, put on a jacket as a windbreaker, and start downhill. I take things cautiously, more so than usual, the first 3 miles as there is a lot of sand on the road, a testament to the icy conditions of the past couple of weeks. I cruise along, doing 34-38MPH when not approaching a tight curve, equal to the posted 35MPH speed limit. Still, there are soon three cars behind me and when there are long enough stretches I pull to the right so they can pass. It took a couple such sections before the first driver gets the hint, and as soon as that one starts past me the other two are right behind them. Of course, they never really go much faster than I am and I was riding the bumper of the third car until about Hakone Gardens. I fail to see why drivers always think that they can go faster than a cyclist, defying the metric of their own speedometer. A mystery.

It was good to be out in decent weather, especially after the rain rides of a week before. I am going to do more hills, and do them more frequently, to get my climbing legs back. That is my new mantra.