Sunday Jingle

Picture is from Friday NIght. Super cold, I've got the bamboo riding hoody on under my skinsuit. Its from Swrve.



Spent a lot of time resting, my right knee was super sore, swollen and hurting a lot. Had some espresso drink in the morning and pedaled around during the masters race watching KC riders Tom P. and Andy L. taking 1st and 2nd in the 45+ race. My knee still really hurt when I pedaled and absolutely killed me when I walked or ran.

At the start I was trying to figure out the bell and lost a second. Still got up to 3rd place into the hole shot.

At the start the official would say 30 seconds, then 30 seconds later you'd hear a bell, that is our signal to go. I was watching the girl with the bell and the official who was watching his watch. I think the official may have moved his foot a certain way to signal the girl to ring it, there was no way to figure it out except put your head down and wait for the bell.


We road around a few turns and I got up to 2nd place over the barriers, where I powered hard into a right turn into a runup/rideup. I put my head down to ride it and halfway up the leader got off his bike and I road into the back of him. Neither of us went down but a few riders got by, I think 2. I was stuck behind a guy in white/red/yellow down a sticky/muddy descent and he let a 10 second gap form between him and the top 3 leaders which included the clif bar prodigy. Eventually I caught them in the barns and off we were going.

To sum up the last 4 laps, I bobbled, caught back on, then bobbled again, then Luke L and Travis D. caught me, then I bobbled again. Did so a few more times and finally crashed really hard on my other knee, felt worse than my right. At this point I was in 8th and I pedaled really hard to keep that position at the finish.


I had ok legs today but breathing wasn't good. There would be places where my legs felt awesome and I was out of breath, then there'd be places where I had good air and my legs were cramping. I didn't have a good pedal stroke either, just mashing along all day.



I should have some good video up in a few days. Legs feel really bad. Bad knees and sore muscles.

State Champs in MO and KS this weekend!

Saturday Jingle.

Won the hole shot, was really flying. Then at the bottom of Mt. Krumpit I lost my killin instinct and I let a group of 3 get away during the 1 minute run up the hill. A group of 3 of us battled a bunch for 2 laps, before I knew it, there was 1 lap to go. I got going really good, then crashed really bad. Straight on my knee. 5 guys passed me during my wreck. Finished 9th. Had the helmet cam on, probably the best footage I've gotten all year. Should be up next week.

I think 1st place finished the race before the 35 minute mark of the 40 minute race, we definitely should have done another lap. The 2/3 women did 5 laps, we did 4 laps.

Friday JIngle.

Got to the race super early. Was pinned and ready 2hours before my race. It was really cold. I pre road the course a few times and crashed a bunch. Lots of loose gravel where there were 180 degree turns, pretty trick. There were lots of places you couldn't lay down the power since it was too dangerous. The descent was the worse though. Super slick, frozen ground, but after 2 races it got a little tacky.


The race starts and me and this prodigy from cali were battling for the hole shot, I decide to give it to him when this kamakaze fighter dude comes flying in on the inside with one foot clipped out swung out 90 degrees, he was doing twice the speed we were. It freaked out the prodigy dude and he grabbed his brakes, everyone did for a second, then we started racing. I was 4th at the top of the hill, then endowed with my front wheel stuck in a hole. It was super hard to see at the top of the hill since there were no lights. Started running and mounted with only 3 or 4 dudes passing me. Immediately I crash again, and again, and again. I felt great though. I road really hard but never could catch any dudes back.

There was a fly over, super steep stairs with a super steep ramp. I got some video of the 4 race, pretty funny to watch, like a little kid about to jump into the swimming pool for the first time with their daddy there to catch you, except, they were grown men with no one at the bottom.


I ended up in 6th. My last 3 laps were solid, perfect, didn't crashed and felt really good. Luke L. finished ahead of me while that prodigy kid won. He was from clif bar.

Travis Donn signed up for the 3 race since he hasn't bothered to upgrade all year, he started 30seconds behind us with the 3's, ended up beating everyone but 1st place in the 2's.

TallGrass Beer!
Andrew L. winning the 3/4 race!
Me on my blue bike, its lighter than 16lbs.
Mr. Ochs racing cx.

Wheels

Just got an email that stans will be selling their 18/24 hole rims as rim only. This makes me super excited. I've got 3 sets of 7900 d/a road hubs that I have been searching for rims for. Anyone want a 1300 gram road wheelset with hubs that will last 100,000 miles?

Built radial front, 2x rear, sapim alloy nipples
silver laser spokes(double butted round) $575
silver cx-ray spokes(super good, bladed) $700

Both wheelsets will weigh the same, but the cx-rays are super aero.



I road yesterday(moday) for about an hour, it felt ok. For some reason all my joints feel like I hyper extended them or something. Both knees and elbows.



I will be at the 39th st. store all day tomorrow, Wednesday! Gonna have some crazy deals! Bring your friends in to buy bikes and stuff, probably will have beer and food but nothing is guaranteed.


Bikes and stuff I need to sell!
54cm Pinarello Carbon Complete CX Bike Brand New with Dura Ace $2500
15 and 17" Dragon Pro 2010 853 steel Hardtail complete bikes, was $2775, now $1800 each!
M/L(56) and L(58) complete Blue SP CX bikes with Apex, was $1700, now $1100.
S(48) and L (58) Blue SP framesets, were $650, now $450
Complete Super Record 11 speed gruppo, $1500, practically new!
Sram Red Doubletap leverset, was $570, now $350 (its time to upgrade!)
Easton CArbon Clincher SL Wheelset 2011, was $2k, now $1200
c-4 to chinese wheelset, tubular carbon 38mm, cx-ray, weight is 1120, price is $700
Focus Carbon Clincher wheelset $1000
Sram Red Calipers, was $308, now $200
ultegra 6700 lever set, was $550, now $350

I can keep going!

Manions

Got a good race, lots of food and beer, tons of coffee. Unfortunately, I didn't take part in any of that, showed up to the start pretty dehydrated and tired from the days efforts of making the race good(lots of people to thank for their hard work as well).

Went hard the first lap, then got tired of pedaling. Ended up breaking a chain and then getting on the pit bike.

Adam K got 3rd in the 3/4. Andrew L practically won the first lap in the 3/4 as well. Casey won the 4 race, first time on a cx bike.


Click here for helmet cam footage from my 1st lap.

Manions

After being at the store half the day we went out and checked the course. Melissa spent the day sorting out all the prizes I begged for/collected while I got my Blue EX geared. The bike with gears is sub 16lbs, super good with 42t single front (k edge stuff) and 11-25 rear. The shorty ultimate brakes are amazing. I should have pics soon.

The course is more hillier than I expected, still less than last time.

Dan and the volunteers did an awesome job. We road the course and it felt good. Lots of loopy, flowy turns with some tough climbs.

Gonna be a windy day I predict.

Time for sleep!



Click here for more info on manions!

Gearing.

I'm getting my Blue EX ready for Jingle CX. Got some new K Edge(click me) parts that are simply beautiful. Gonna do a 42t single in the front, with the cross guard. Its pretty cool, really light, stiff, and it has a lip going over the top to keep the chain from bouncing off the guard.

Below are the speeds in mph with each of the following chainrings, 39, 42, 46. Down the left it goes through an 11-28 ultegra cassette with the speeds to the right.


Gear chart using MPH @ 90 RPM

For 700 X 35 / 35-622 tire with 172.5 mm cranks

With Custom Sprocket(s) Cassette

39 7.7 % 42 9.5 % 46
11 25.8 27.8 30.4
9.1 %
12 23.6 25.5 27.9
8.3 %
13 21.8 23.5 25.7
15.4 %
15 18.9 20.4 22.3
13.3 %
17 16.7 18.0 19.7
11.8 %
19 14.9 16.1 17.6
10.5 %
21 13.5 14.5 15.9
9.5 %
23 12.3 13.3 14.5
8.7 %
25 11.3 12.2 13.4
12.0 %
28 10.1 10.9 12.0


With the 42t you save weight, you make it simpler, you have less stuff to break, and it looks cool.

Gonna be super cold up there. (clickme)

De Stad

Got back from Topeka and fell asleep around 1, I was tired after two races. Woke up at 6:45 so that we could get Benon ready for the day. I went to the only bike shop that was open on a Sunday at 7am, bought new SHOES and a new rear derailleur. I broke my mavic shoes in Topeka during the ss race which sucked. Running around with the whole carbon sole busted sucked, like playing basketball at a gymnasium in flip flops.


I've wanted a pair of these Shimano shoes for a long time. Every year actually, and each time I never actually really want them until its crazy cold and the snow season is halfway over, so I say to myself I can get through the winter without them, this time I will be prepared and my feet will be comfortable.


Each shoe weighs 556grams, while my mavic chasm shoes weighed in at 310 or so, more than 1 lb. difference, I will pretend I am training with ankle weights.



We get to the race early and I am feeling super sick. I guess racing for 2 hours in 40 degrees, then standing around drinking beer in the cold, then only getting 5 hours of sleep makes you feel this way. I felt sick all day, today too.


I hang out with Benon and some other babies during the day, if the sun was out, it was super nice, if the clouds were there it was chilly. The dude Benon has been sick and in and out of the hospital all week but I think he is fine now, thanks for asking.


Long and short, I end up at the start line at 1:57 and the race was already started, I was a good 2 minutes behind at the bottom and started racing hard. I didn't do the single speed race so I needed to get a good 54 minute workout, I did, I didn't pass too many open racers but I did pass a lot of the 2/3 riders. The course was pretty fun, in a challenging kind of way. I was worried my new shoes were going to be too warm(it was 56 degrees) but they weren't. Apparently they are made of this cool new material gore tex, which lets your feet breath but are still moderately water proof.

I wore them in to work this morning with normal cycling socks and my feet stayed nice and warm, I should have bought these shoes 3 years ago. Now I need to find some gloves made of this incredible gore tex material.


We are less than a week from Manions2. We've got tons more coffee/beer as well as way more prizes to give away. Check out this weeks weather.


Heartland Park writing below.

Heartland Park Grand Prix.

One of my favorite races every year, its the reason I didn't go to Ft. Collins this year, its that good.




This time around there was lots of mud, the bad kind, the not fun kind that cakes to your bike in a couple of seconds. There were definitely some fast sections of the course, but when we bombed into the infield, the mud took over.



I got 2nd in the ss race, the first lap I was leading good, but then my bike got mudded. The hutchinson bulldogs did not work well in this mud.


In the open race I started ok, I was really tired from all the running in the ss race. I was 7th I think and a guy in front me dismounted in into the mud, so me and everyone behind me did the same, while the top 5 or 6 got a 20 second gap in about 5 seconds. I lead the chase back on and got pretty tired. My bike was ok clean for the running so the grass sections I could go fast in.

I was racing Tufo Flexus tubulars, made in europe, 300 grams each, they felt pretty good in this kind of mud at 35psi, they didn't cake up or collect mud at all.


After 3 laps I went by the pits and thought I should grab my ss and let my geared bike get cleaned up, I didn't, and about 20 seconds later I broke my derailleur. Wish my rear derailleur was made in Germany like my hanger, since the hanger stayed straight as an arrow. I must of bumped it up against that wall going by the billboards after you hit the stairs/ramp.



So I walked/jogged the 1.5 mile course to get back to the pit, had a beer, and got on my Pake. My pake had a 30mm grifo in the back and a pirahna semi slick in the front. I never had to get off my bike once for the last 4 laps(except for the stairs), those tires rocked it in the mud. The 30mm grifo is smaller and has good tread, with the smaller tire you get more mud clearance while the piranha didn't collect any mud at all. It almost iceskated over all that mud. It made the race alot of fun. Maybe next time I'll be rocking a 29er rigid ss with 17psi in some stan's crow tires...that is the plan.

Buy a Bike.

Get your friends to buy bikes! Nows the time! Its so fun!
Buy a bike and get 50% off shoes, pedals, and a helmet!

Volker is Seriously way cheaper than everyone!

Racing.

I'm very excited to race this saturday in Topeka, its my favorite race. Its not because of the free Monster Drink or Boulevard Beer either, its just fun, everything about it. Click for some video.


I road my bike a while up around the hills behind my house. There is always really good climbing, whichever way you go. Recently I've had ideas to do a spring classic weekend in KC. Its super hard to put on a CX race, even with a great team that volunteers and an awesome wife that knows the rules, I can only imagine a road race or crit would be at least 3x as hard. Anyways, I'm thinking a super hard crit course like snake alley, here it is.





The entire ascent is on cobble brick road...very bumpy, not smooth. This would happen on a Sunday, while saturday there would be a Road Race in Eastern Jackson County, maybe a 10 mile loop with 1 section of dirt road...maybe 2 or 3 miles of it, plus some hills.

I'm just talking, no wheels are moving yet, but how cool would this be?

Cool Stuff.

Some really cool geeky wheel stuff here.

Just built up a set of c-4 hubs to the china rims. Weight is practically 1100 grams for $700 wheelset. Ceramic Bearings too. Exciting!



I really haven't seen any carbon clinchers besides Eastons EC90sl that is worthadam. The wheels used to be $1800(now $2k), but with ceramic bearings, 38mm depth, 1440 weight, cx-ray spokes, its hard to complain since its equal in the tubular version is only 180 grams lighter. Plus its got the best carbon breaking surface experienced.

But here's the thing. Why not build up a23 rims to good hubs, 20/24 holes with cx-rays for $600, you have the same weight at 1440 grams, almost as aero, plus you have a nice wide 23mm rim that feels amazing with corsa-cx tires. Then, in the bad luck case you crash, and a dude rides over your wheel, you are out $80/rim, not $700/rim. Good deal?

So my options for you are either 38mm carbon 1100 gram tubulars or 1440 gram a23 clinchers.

Better yet, lets build 28h alpha 340 stans rims to c-4 hubs for a 1260 gram clincher wheelset...or


I still have 2 sets of Vista Cruiser Tubulars left, 24/28 hole for $200/pair.

30mm grifo $45
34mm fango $55
tufo flexus $95
fmb white filetread $100
34 xg $65

Stuff For Sale

I didn't race at all this weekend. Melissa officiated both races and I hung out with Benny most of the time. I actually didn't take 1 pedal stroke at all both saturday and sunday. I'm kind of sad about it.




I've got bills, so time to sell all this stuff. If you don't want it, think of someone you know and get them to want it.

First off, Tubular Stuff.

Tires
Tufo Flexus Primus. $95 each(this is a super cheap price)
FMB Sprint Blanc 32s(all white file treads) $200/pair
FMB SSC 34s $90 each
FMB SSC 32s with super prestige tangerine band $200/pair
34 challenge Fango $60 each
30 challenge grifo $50 each
32 vittoria 320tpi xg $70 each
34 vittoria 320tpi xg $60 each
Gommitalia Magnum, 34, like grifo but measures 33, $50 each.

Tubular Wheels.
Gold Velocity escape, sapim laser spokes, velocity hubs. $300
Grey Mavic Reflex rim, 36h to velocity hubs. $350
Vista cruiser 24/28h wheelset $200
Easton 2011 Ec90 aero tubulars. $1200

Carbon Clincher Focus Wheels, White spokes. 1600 grams. Very strong. I need $1k for these, they normally cost $2k.

D29 19" full carbon 29er frame/headset. $800, they normally cost $1800. I'll include the bb30 bearings if you are nice.

Lapierre Full Carbon CX Frames. $800, got 52, 54, and 57cm left. 1340 grams, normal cost is $1400. Brand new.

56cm Pinarello CX Frame. $700. Super light, probably the lightest aluminum frame I've felt. Raced 7 times. Not many miles on it. Price is for Frame/fork/headset. Standover is kind of high on it, probably fits more like a 57cm.


Cannondale CX bike, 54cm. Used $500.




We are getting rain thursday and friday hopefully, that sounds cool.

C-4

Got the C4 Hubs in.
Rear 205 weighs 207 on my scale. Front weighed 76 as described. I was very surprised by the quality. Normally when you get a rear hub weighing less than 210 you are getting sloppy engagement and tiny rc race car bearings. With these you get AmericenMade quality. Ceramic bearings feel super smooth like chrisking while the freehub/engagement is like the white industries.

I also got in some 102/225 hubs as well. They are built for war, believe me, and the 44 gram weight penalty isn't too noticeable. Plus there cheaper.




What really blew me away were these. They even come in a fancy jewelry looking box. If you're looking for that one of a kind surprise badass gift they'll love forever, get them these!




Will have some 1100 gram $750 wheelsets built up soon.

Probably will be building the 76/205 hubs to notubes alpha rims as well, can you say 1250 gram clincher for $650?

Boss Cross #3

As always, the Boss Cross Race was super. Awesome course, super good scene.

I raced the ss race, it was 7 laps. I road pretty good the first 3, caught the leaders of the 4 race, but then dropped my chain. Took a bit of time to fix the bike, and a lap later I caught the leaders again. I road with them a while, then with 1 or 2 to go I got going again to win, so I keep the jersey.

I went and got my geared bike after the race, took a "new formula" clif shot espresso (100mg caffeine) shot. It was good. Lined up in the very back of the open race, at least 20 racers it seemed. By the 4th turn there was a 15 second gap it seemed between 4th place and 5th place, I was behind a big group but was able to get by in the sand. Ended up getting into 4th behind Andrew Coe. I wasn't aggressive as I should have been. If I'd killed it in the 2nd lap and caught Coe, instead of hoping to keep my lead ahead of Travis, I would have been better off. Instead, I kept 4th for a few more laps maybe 4, and got caught by 3 guys. I gave up here for a few minutes, until Bill and NIck caught me, I road with them for a while until Nick Attacked. Then I tried attacking in the sand, but couldn't get far. Nick beat me, I think I finished 7th or 9th or 8th. I raced 7 laps for the single speed and 10 laps in the open race. Melissa had a good time officiating, the look on the cat 3 faces when they came in after 2 laps and saw 8 laps to go was worth the full day of work for her.

Special thanks to the Boss Cross people, its the best series out there, December 4th is MOState Champs/BC #4.




I raced the chinese carbon wheels, they were super fast. There were some sections where you could go 30mph, they made it easy to go faster. Definitely worth it to buy carbon.

I've got c-4 hubs, more rims on the way. Do you want 1120 gram carbon tubulars for $650? Want 300 gram tufo flexus primus tires for $100/ea?