Great course, cold and windy, it rained but not enough to make it muddy, just a little slick.
I won the ss race, I tried as best I could to save something for the open but there was good competition and I was pretty tired after. I took a clif mocha shot, 50mg of caffeine and felt a little better. The course had good flow to it, you really didn't have to use your brakes except for the descent after the runup.
In the open race, I we were all together till the runup, it was really hard, Shadd S. road it and was away. Andrew Coe chased, Luke L. followed and I was behind him. Eventually I got really tired, kind of gave up. It sucked. I felt awful. I got passed by everyone. Andrew Coe ended up winning by a lot. First time this season where I got the blood taste in my mouth. Back felt fine, knees were good, just didn't have any fitness. Guess that happens when you are off the bike for a month.
New Years Day sale at Volker Bicycles, 10-4, come get you some Carbon Wheels.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Riding
I road a little monday night and this morning. Monday felt great, first time on a bike in a couple days. Then today I did some errands, and road the purple spookyBUY ME! Its been 6 months since I've ridden a real road bike. It was frustrating to ride such a fast bike so slowly, I am not fit.
Today was a real romantic day to ride, misty rain, 40degrees, not really windy, really grey....on my way to 39th up the hill I had the idea to do some races.
Idea:
1. Find all the spots on the kca calender where there isn't a race within 100miles on sundays.
2. Have "alley cat" or "Gentleman" style circuit races in different communities.
3. Races could start around 10 or maybe later.
4. 2-4 mile courses, preferring all right turns.
5. Areas with good hills.
6. Areas with low traffic.
7. Areas with safe roads.
8. No categories, no numbers, no license needed.
9. Must have helmets.
Places.
1. Clif drive is a good place, you could do the breakthrough loop.
2. Around Roanoke Park North of 39th. Start at valentine/wyoming, go north, turns into karnes, go down the hill around up Madison, then right onto valentine, back to Wyoming. Its good climbing and fun.
3. Circuit out by Swope Park by the soccer fields.
4. West of Pierson Park, at 59th/holiday, go west to inland, go right, take inland back to 59th, 59th back to holday. Good climbing here too.
There's plenty more places to find. We'll have to wait and see.
Goal:
1. To get more people racing, into racing, or riding more.
2. Make racing accessible to more people by having it free.
3. Get people buying bikes at volker bicycles.
4. Have structured training on on the weekends when there aren't any races within driving distances.
I guess you could call it the gravel grinder version of roadie paved races.
Today was a real romantic day to ride, misty rain, 40degrees, not really windy, really grey....on my way to 39th up the hill I had the idea to do some races.
Idea:
1. Find all the spots on the kca calender where there isn't a race within 100miles on sundays.
2. Have "alley cat" or "Gentleman" style circuit races in different communities.
3. Races could start around 10 or maybe later.
4. 2-4 mile courses, preferring all right turns.
5. Areas with good hills.
6. Areas with low traffic.
7. Areas with safe roads.
8. No categories, no numbers, no license needed.
9. Must have helmets.
Places.
1. Clif drive is a good place, you could do the breakthrough loop.
2. Around Roanoke Park North of 39th. Start at valentine/wyoming, go north, turns into karnes, go down the hill around up Madison, then right onto valentine, back to Wyoming. Its good climbing and fun.
3. Circuit out by Swope Park by the soccer fields.
4. West of Pierson Park, at 59th/holiday, go west to inland, go right, take inland back to 59th, 59th back to holday. Good climbing here too.
There's plenty more places to find. We'll have to wait and see.
Goal:
1. To get more people racing, into racing, or riding more.
2. Make racing accessible to more people by having it free.
3. Get people buying bikes at volker bicycles.
4. Have structured training on on the weekends when there aren't any races within driving distances.
I guess you could call it the gravel grinder version of roadie paved races.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Back to KC.
Driving back to KC today to be home in time for the 6pm ride tonight.
Over the break I've become obsessed with deep clincher aero wheels. They aren't light, but they are strong, stiff, and aero. We live in Kansas, why not?
I've always said that the rider gets the results, not the equipment, though I cannot deny the feeling of Deep Carbon Tubulars. They do make you go much faster! Its just that all of us can't afford $1000 wheels.
Before I get too much into the debate on the best price to weight to aero business, here are some unique options for Strong, Fast, Aero, Clincher wheels that would work fine for training and racing without hurting the budget.
I first must say that building your next wheelset with Velocity Road Race Hubs is not a bad idea at all. First, they are $200, for both. Thats $65 less than just the rear white industry hub.
They have an awesome design that allows for more equal spoke tension on the rear. I built a set to a23 rims which are awesome, but thats another store, a story about lighter, less aero, tubular feeling wheels.
Back to deep rims. These are new. Made by kinlin. Lots of people I've built wheels for ride the 30mm with no problem. These are 8mm deeper, almost 100 grams heavier each. Is the 8mm worth the 1/2 weight penalty?
These I like. 42mm deep, 600 grams each per rim! Available in black 20/24 spoke pattern. The cool thing about these rims is the breaking surface is black, and the rim is black, they look super stealth, almost like carbon.
A zipp 404 clincher rim weighs about 600 grams.
42mm=$90 rim
58mm =$900 rim
Yes, the zipp rim is obviously faster, but 10x as much.
I do like these too! Complete wheelset is around $1200, weighs about 1750 grams, has amazing shimano hubs and there built with dura ace rims. 16/20 hole spoke pattern, straight pull. This is the best deal I've seen out there on a prebuilt wheelset by a respected manufacturer.
So,
20/24 h plus son sl42, cx-rays, awesome Velocity Hubs. $500
20/24 kinlin 38mm rims, cx-rays, velocity hubs, $575
Shimano rs80 50mm carbon clincher $1200
zipp 404 carbon clincher, 1 bagillion dollars.
Please email me volkerbicycles at gmail.com if you want some sweet aero, strong, low price, clincher wheels.
Over the break I've become obsessed with deep clincher aero wheels. They aren't light, but they are strong, stiff, and aero. We live in Kansas, why not?
I've always said that the rider gets the results, not the equipment, though I cannot deny the feeling of Deep Carbon Tubulars. They do make you go much faster! Its just that all of us can't afford $1000 wheels.
Before I get too much into the debate on the best price to weight to aero business, here are some unique options for Strong, Fast, Aero, Clincher wheels that would work fine for training and racing without hurting the budget.
I first must say that building your next wheelset with Velocity Road Race Hubs is not a bad idea at all. First, they are $200, for both. Thats $65 less than just the rear white industry hub.
They have an awesome design that allows for more equal spoke tension on the rear. I built a set to a23 rims which are awesome, but thats another store, a story about lighter, less aero, tubular feeling wheels.
Back to deep rims. These are new. Made by kinlin. Lots of people I've built wheels for ride the 30mm with no problem. These are 8mm deeper, almost 100 grams heavier each. Is the 8mm worth the 1/2 weight penalty?
These I like. 42mm deep, 600 grams each per rim! Available in black 20/24 spoke pattern. The cool thing about these rims is the breaking surface is black, and the rim is black, they look super stealth, almost like carbon.
A zipp 404 clincher rim weighs about 600 grams.
42mm=$90 rim
58mm =$900 rim
Yes, the zipp rim is obviously faster, but 10x as much.
I do like these too! Complete wheelset is around $1200, weighs about 1750 grams, has amazing shimano hubs and there built with dura ace rims. 16/20 hole spoke pattern, straight pull. This is the best deal I've seen out there on a prebuilt wheelset by a respected manufacturer.
So,
20/24 h plus son sl42, cx-rays, awesome Velocity Hubs. $500
20/24 kinlin 38mm rims, cx-rays, velocity hubs, $575
Shimano rs80 50mm carbon clincher $1200
zipp 404 carbon clincher, 1 bagillion dollars.
Please email me volkerbicycles at gmail.com if you want some sweet aero, strong, low price, clincher wheels.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Velodrome.
Pic from the Velodrome being built in Durango CO. click here for their page. I always make a joke that some day there will be a velodrome in KC, the Melissa Kusiak DDS Velodrome. Its not a joke, its for real, it just won't happen for another 20 years. This is too long to wait. I guess it costs anywhere from $750,000 up to $35,000,000.
I'd be happy with the $750,000 one, though it looks like Durango will have it done for way less. I've talked to a lot of people about this in the store, they all say the same thing. Probably an abandoned building in the bottoms or out by wyandotte park, or by swope park, yup, lots of places to have it. I even heard that the city of riverside has millions and millions they don't know what to do with (they have a casino) and there has been proposals for sports parks there that include indoor/outdoor velodromes, that wouldn't be bad.
Anyway, I'm glad Durango is doing something about it, maybe after they finish, it will prove to communities like ours that it is possible.
--
I want a figure 8 velodrome. This one is not that big, and does not take up that much space.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Results
Series 60 overall with 3 races to go here.
SC might win cat 3 if the 2 guys in front of him do not show up.
SS race is wrong, Keith is winning, they forgot to give him 36 pts from ks state champs.
I'm doing the last 3 races, the open race should be a good battle if everyone shows up. There are 15 pts between 1st and 4th place. I haven't ridden more than just soft pedaling to work since bc#4. So glad I have a triple for now. The next 5 days I won't be riding at all, maybe I'll try some stretching, yoga, jogging, lunges, pushups, situps, whatever else you people recommend.
We'll see how well doubling up goes after 23 days of not riding.
I've got my blue ready to go for the open and the pake ready for ss and pit bike. I was supposed to have a bamboo frame in september, but the wood keeps cracking and it gets rebuilt over and over. Ti paragon dropouts and light alloy bb30 shell, still weighs in at about 4.5 lbs just for the frame. Its beautiful wood. Maybe it will be here for christmas, or new years, or next september.
I love this bike, its awesome. But I can't have 2 road bikes this season. Please buy it.
Blue ex, complete with k edge, sram red shifter, bb30 cdale cranks and 1100 gram tubulars is $2500. Its practically new. $1900 w/o wheels/tires. There's a pic of it below somewhere. Its got maybe 100 miles on it. I'd like to keep it until January 9th, but if you want to ride it, see me at the races! Size is 56cm. It weighs 15 lbs.
Also, ultegra 6700 tubeless wheelset, with piranhas tubeless, with skewers, with 6700 11-28 cassette. Normal retail price on package=$850, I'm selling for $400.
Look below at my auctions, they end in less than 24hours, tell all your friends, buy bikes!
SC might win cat 3 if the 2 guys in front of him do not show up.
SS race is wrong, Keith is winning, they forgot to give him 36 pts from ks state champs.
I'm doing the last 3 races, the open race should be a good battle if everyone shows up. There are 15 pts between 1st and 4th place. I haven't ridden more than just soft pedaling to work since bc#4. So glad I have a triple for now. The next 5 days I won't be riding at all, maybe I'll try some stretching, yoga, jogging, lunges, pushups, situps, whatever else you people recommend.
We'll see how well doubling up goes after 23 days of not riding.
I've got my blue ready to go for the open and the pake ready for ss and pit bike. I was supposed to have a bamboo frame in september, but the wood keeps cracking and it gets rebuilt over and over. Ti paragon dropouts and light alloy bb30 shell, still weighs in at about 4.5 lbs just for the frame. Its beautiful wood. Maybe it will be here for christmas, or new years, or next september.
I love this bike, its awesome. But I can't have 2 road bikes this season. Please buy it.
Blue ex, complete with k edge, sram red shifter, bb30 cdale cranks and 1100 gram tubulars is $2500. Its practically new. $1900 w/o wheels/tires. There's a pic of it below somewhere. Its got maybe 100 miles on it. I'd like to keep it until January 9th, but if you want to ride it, see me at the races! Size is 56cm. It weighs 15 lbs.
Also, ultegra 6700 tubeless wheelset, with piranhas tubeless, with skewers, with 6700 11-28 cassette. Normal retail price on package=$850, I'm selling for $400.
Look below at my auctions, they end in less than 24hours, tell all your friends, buy bikes!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
It's Christmas!
Buy these wheels.
Click here for info.
$1200, gets you these $2k wheels, plus Continental sprinter tires are already glued on! (tires normally cost $70/ea).
1250 grams! Ceramic Hubs! Bomb Proof!
This is what you get when someone buys brand new wheels, glues tires on, then decides they don't want them, a Great Deal!
Also, I'm slowly putting my racing calendar together.
I'm pretty sure I am racing the last 3 series 60 races...maybe I'll have a bamboo cx bike for them!
Then, start riding again and go to the NAHMBS(click). Probably spend 4 days in Austin, hopefully enjoying nice weather and riding tons!
Then March 5/6...maybe a mtn. bike stage race in KC...
Then March 13, 20, 27 are the Perry Road Races.
March 19th is the MWI Gents Race.
There is a Stage Race in Arkansas, the 19th/20th in Fayetteville, thats an option.
April 3rd is the Bazaar RR. It kind of sucks but is really fun at the same time, plus Casa Ramos is good.
I can't find anything else in April.
May 1st, Joe Sheehan! Awesome 50 miler RR, lots of rollers, I always seem to fall apart with 10 miles to go, I plan on eating this year.
I believe Joe Martin is May 5, 6, 7, 8th. Its a ton of riding. We'll see if I can make the trip.
At the end of may are a bunch of racing in Iowa, including Snake Alley...maybe!
June 3, 4, 5th are Wichita Crits.
June 10, 11, 12...Tulsa Tough. Probably the best racing ever.
July 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Tour of Lawrence!
There are lots of gaps in this schedule. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm also planning on racing all the tues, night crits this year. It might be possible.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
For Sale.
Cool stuff on ebay for sale! Please buy(click)!
Tufo Flexus primus tubular cx tires, 700x32. They are $90 each, super cheap!
Also,
Easton Carbon Tubular ec90sl 38mm Wheelset with New Sprinter contis glued, brand new. $1100
Easton EC90 Aero 56mm Carbon tubular wheelset. $1000
Easton EC90 SL Clincher 38mm carbon wheelset. $1000
Ritchey Apex Carbon Clincher 38mm wheelset $450
Fulcrum 1 Wheelset shimano or campy brand new $800.
Super Record Gruppo, lightly used(was on a dogma demo bike) 172.5 cranks whole group is $1500.
Chorus 11 speed gruppo, brand new. $1100.
Tufo Flexus primus tubular cx tires, 700x32. They are $90 each, super cheap!
Also,
Easton Carbon Tubular ec90sl 38mm Wheelset with New Sprinter contis glued, brand new. $1100
Easton EC90 Aero 56mm Carbon tubular wheelset. $1000
Easton EC90 SL Clincher 38mm carbon wheelset. $1000
Ritchey Apex Carbon Clincher 38mm wheelset $450
Fulcrum 1 Wheelset shimano or campy brand new $800.
Super Record Gruppo, lightly used(was on a dogma demo bike) 172.5 cranks whole group is $1500.
Chorus 11 speed gruppo, brand new. $1100.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Mtn. biking.
Finally have a 29er ss built up to my liking. The new Dragon One Frameset from Jamis is pretty. 520 tubing and $325(normally $400) for frame/fork/hs. Can be built with gears or ss. Running 22/13. Same gear inch as 33/19 but way smoother, stiffer, stronger, faster, plus I'll be jumping stuff easier.
My knees are still really sore, even after 15 days of not riding hard. Maybe by january it will be better.
Swrve came out with new bamboo ls ts, not hoodies, which I like.
We got the new reynolds carbon attack clincher and assault tubulars in. 2011 models. LIghter, stiffer, stronger, better breaking.
Monday, December 6, 2010
BC#4
SS race went well. I didn't pedal that much throughout the race, I tried saving something for the open race and wasn't feeling good from the inatub tacos. They were good tacos, just not good to race with.
I had 1 guy with me for the whole race, there were a few fast ss guys but we left them with 3 to go. I lead the whole race until the guy attacked with about 1k to go, I was on his wheel, had more momentum going into the 2nd to last turn, flew by him on the barrier, then sprinted to win. I keep the jersey. I'm ks resident, so no bonus mo jersey.
The open race went good for a while. I was leading for a bit, then was in 3rd for a while, then holding on to 4th real strong. I started crashing. I crashed a lot. Every time I tried to clip out I crashed, really hard crashes. Finally I realized me cleat was loose and decided not to crash or race hard. I am super sore, worse than jingle cross. Crashing in the sand wasn't too bad but crashing at both sets of barriers at fast speeds sucks.
I'm not pedaling hard until my birthday(december 26). Hopefully I'll have a 29er ss built up soon. The word is 22/13 is the perfect gearing. Way more contact spots, way more consistent power output.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Racing and Presents
Boss Cross #4 and KS State Champs is this weekend. I haven't ridden much this week except for the Monday Night Ride and just cruising to work/home/errands. I've been riding around on a Bosanova(click) this week. Its a really cool bike. CX geometry. Cool fenders. All steel. Disc brakes. If it were min I'd change the cranks to compact instead of triple, maybe put some super light stan's cres 29er wheels on it. I'm waiting on Andrew to paint the track frame Ricky and I made a few years ago. Its been a long time since we've built frames, but maybe we'll get it going again, its alot of work.
For now, we have taken the lease on the space in the back of the 18th store, formally HodgePodge. Lots of room for spinning classes, storage, and bike painting. Perhaps frame building this spring.
We will probably do spin classes at 6pm on tues/thurs, but nothing is set in stone yet. Just bring a bike and your trainer. More sociable spinning than anything. PBR is $1.
People have asked me how those chinese rims are holding up. They are. 3 days of hard racing in Iowa and they are solid. I have 100% confidence in them at this point. Jon P. just bought a set with fangos. He'll be on them this weekend. Were talking 1100 gram tubulars for less than $700.
Its crazy how hard 3 days of racing is. I think I raced harder in 1 day in Iowa than I have all year. Something about traveling, hotels, making that commitment to racing makes you want to get your moneys worth. My legs still feel trashed but it got me ready for this weekend hopefully.
Anyone want a set of Tubulars? Mavic reflex rims with 36 spokes to velocity hubs. 1500 grams. $250. Retail on just rims is $250! A wheelset like this would normally cost $600! Rims are used, spokes/hubs new.
If you want to buy a cyclist something special click here.
Please buy local this holiday! Black Friday is over. (click)
I'm building up a 29er for some winter riding. I'm hearing 22/13 is the next big thing, its the ratio, just use a normal mtn. crank without the two big chainrings, then you'd have to use a normal mtn. wheel with the 13t cog pushed all the way on the inside to get good chainline.
For now, we have taken the lease on the space in the back of the 18th store, formally HodgePodge. Lots of room for spinning classes, storage, and bike painting. Perhaps frame building this spring.
We will probably do spin classes at 6pm on tues/thurs, but nothing is set in stone yet. Just bring a bike and your trainer. More sociable spinning than anything. PBR is $1.
People have asked me how those chinese rims are holding up. They are. 3 days of hard racing in Iowa and they are solid. I have 100% confidence in them at this point. Jon P. just bought a set with fangos. He'll be on them this weekend. Were talking 1100 gram tubulars for less than $700.
Its crazy how hard 3 days of racing is. I think I raced harder in 1 day in Iowa than I have all year. Something about traveling, hotels, making that commitment to racing makes you want to get your moneys worth. My legs still feel trashed but it got me ready for this weekend hopefully.
Anyone want a set of Tubulars? Mavic reflex rims with 36 spokes to velocity hubs. 1500 grams. $250. Retail on just rims is $250! A wheelset like this would normally cost $600! Rims are used, spokes/hubs new.
If you want to buy a cyclist something special click here.
Please buy local this holiday! Black Friday is over. (click)
I'm building up a 29er for some winter riding. I'm hearing 22/13 is the next big thing, its the ratio, just use a normal mtn. crank without the two big chainrings, then you'd have to use a normal mtn. wheel with the 13t cog pushed all the way on the inside to get good chainline.
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