Group Ride Update!

I am so inept at updating this blog, that John Bayley took matters into his own hands.  Thanks to him for putting this together:

"Come join us for an autumnal treat this Sunday, October 24th, leaving the Ride Studio Cafe at 8am. The usual Sunday morning ride will have a different format this weekend, as we make our way through Great Brook State Park, take in a little bit of "Deliverance" Appalachia when we ride right through a farm in Westford and then ride a short section of dirt road in Groton - much smoother than any road in Belmont, if that's a selling point!

All this is just an apéritif for the raison d'être of this ride though - the real, live bicycle roller coaster that is Lost Lake Drive in Groton. Have you ever had to battle with your inner chicken about slamming on your brakes on an uphill? Well, if you haven't you will today!

After enjoying both that thrill and views of fall colour reflected in the ponds on both sides of the road, we will thread our way back to Lexington via Chelmsford and Carlisle, with only the occasional gratuitous hill thrown in for good measure."

 

I'll be there.  I can't wait to battle my inner chicken.

See you soon.

KB

 

 

Puddle Ride

I live off of Mass Ave in Arlington, so the commute to the Studio is a straight shot.  The road is a "false flat" as Neil would say, because it looks flat, but in reality is ever so slightly sloped up all the way to Lexington.  On a day in which I expected to have dead legs, the false flat had no effect and my concerns of lethargy diminished.  I got to the studio around 7:30 and waited for the group to arrive while Rob and Jillian opened up the store and fired up the coffee machines.

The rain was gone but the puddles were present so I wasn't sure who all would make the ride.  We had a good group show up, John and Pamela on their Independent's, Neil and Joe, Jeremy and I.  As has been the trend, there was a chill in the air so arm and leg warmers were all but required to fend off the goose bumps.  When is the summer going to arrive?  We did the same loop as always, and had a great ride.  I got the feeling that John might be unstoppable on a bike, I don't really know what low end torque is but I'm sure he has more than me.  Conveniently he is also a nice guy and it was fun to talk to him along the way, he has logged plenty of miles and has good stories to share because of it.  I also got to speak to Pamela, between her and John they must have 15 bikes in their garage.  Most impressive.  Jeremy also had a strong ride, I think before too long he'll be hard to hold back.

After the ride we hung out and nursed coffees and discussed whether or not we should ride a little more.  I was feeling anything but dead so I suggested the Giro loop that we had done a few weeks back, the one Graham led.  It's not the longest loop but has some short, steep climbs which I thought would put an end to my second wind.  I was so psyched that both Neil and Joe were up for it.  Both guys are great to ride with for a variety of reasons other than just being hilarious.  Neil can just crush the flats and his favorite, "false flats," while Joe can keep pace with anyone and is a good climber.  They are just as likely to crush you, as you are them, which adds a little spice to the ride.  More often than not, no one lays the hammer down, but it's nice to know that it could happen at any moment, and if it does, laughter and retaliation will ensue.

All three of us had energy and we did a decent job of crushing the hills.  Past Wilson Farms, over route 2, up Belmont Hill, into Belmont center, up the water tower, down the water tower, up the water tower, down to Trader Joe's and finally up Charles street for a super short, super steep calf killer.  A nice false flat to the studio and we were cooked.  I think we'll make this an optional post coffee route each week for those with restless, hairless legs.

Coach Calhoun Charity Ride

I woke up Sunday expecting to have no energy left in my legs.  Saturday morning I participated in my hero's charity ride, www.calhounride.com, a 75 mile jaunt in the most underrated state in the nation, Connecticut.  Most of the ride was near Simsbury which provided beautiful scenery, loads of hills, and plenty, plenty of rain.  Prior to the ride I shook hands with another hero, Scottie Burrell, you might just remember him as the guy who had the best in bounds pass in Uconn's storied history.  Need a refresher? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CxbjRXwhY   

Great morning and a great event, I had an absolute blast.

I learned a few things on this ride:

1)  In a down pour, my blue break pads paired with carbon rims make for little or no breaking.  That's an odd feeling to encounter at 42 mph and an eye full of rain.

2)  Campagnolo's racing bibs are my new favorite's I simply can't imagine a more comfortable bib, wet or dry.

3)  Larabar's Cherry Pie bars are the next level better than delicious.  Succulent?  That's an easy word to type but an embarrassing one to say.  Actually I'm blushing, maybe it's not so easy to type either.  I'm going to demand that the Studio carries these bars so I can eat one every Sunday, while I feel important. 

4)  As a first time leg shaver, I learned that a skinny pair of shiny, hairless legs makes me feel that much closer to being a real live cyclist.  After about 5 years of contemplating, I took the dive and can't believe I waited so long.  Before doing so I asked Joe Wignall for some guidance and he said, "just don't do it the night before a big ride, you won't be able to sleep becuase it feels so weird."  He was right, I tossed and turned all night.  Of course I was going to see Jim Calhoun the very next day, so I could have just been excited.  As an added bonus, for the first few nights of hairless-ness, I woke thinking someone else was in my bed.

If you can make it 22 seconds in, I'm up front on the left in Red.  http://theuconnhuskies.blogspot.com/2010/06/jim-calhouns-2010-charity-bike-ride.html.

This was the longest ride of my season so I expected to be pretty spent Sunday morning.  I woke up early, jumped on my still wet Elium SL and headed over to the Studio.

Fenway

Good news bad news friends.  A while back, before we were even riding, I was asked to help raise some money for a friend that is participating in the Run to Home Base 9K tomorrow morning.  The race starts precisely at the same time as our group ride so I have to skip out on the ride.  Two weeks in a row, I know.  On the bright side, I'll spend a little bit of time walking on the warning track out in left field.  I can't wait for that.

My team of trusty back up leaders, Neil, Joe, Matt, Rob, etc., like a perfect storm, are also all out.

So, the "leaders" of the ride are out, however, I'm sure others will show, many of them who know the route.  If you do show, enjoy the ride, it's supposed to be beautiful.

See you soon.

Diamas SL Demo

At 6'1" I have found myself just outside of the typical test bike/prototype range at Seven Cycles. If you are Joe Wignall or Neil Doshi or Graham Dimmock or Bryan Hollingsworth or Matt Sutton or pretty much anyone else who works at Seven you'll find a variety of these bikes to test in your size. Of course maybe that's the point of a test bike, to have one in a size that most people can use? I suppose it doesn't matter anyway as I already own the world's finest bike and rarely have interest in riding anything else. One of my responsibilities at Seven is to answer phone calls and emails, so it's important for me to be knowledgeable on as many aspects of the company as I can. One question that comes up a lot is "what are your carbon bikes like?"

Until Sunday I had only ridden a few prototypes that were too small and for too short of a time to really form an opinion. You can imagine my excitement when I learned that the Ride Studio Cafe was going to take a Diamas SL that was very close to my size and were going to let me demo it for the Sunday ride. As it turns out anyone can demo a bike for the ride, but at the time I thought I was special.

It's so fast that pictures always come out blurry.

Equipped with 10 speed Campy Record parts, Zero G brakes, and a older pair of Mavic Ksyrium's I had nothing to complain about, a rarity. If push came to shove I'd complain about the silver braking wall, but I'll just internalize that for now. I adjusted the saddle height, 'chrew on my pedals and was ready to brave the cold and the wind awaiting us outside.

I have been riding my Elium SL for about five years and am thus very familiar with how it feels. Light and lively, a touch muted, and it soaks up the bumps. I have found full metal frames to "feel" faster than my bike even though the speedometer reads the same. Sort of like how my college car, an '85 Nissan Maxima that weighed more than all of my cars prior or since weigh together, felt on the highway. If you weren't paying attention you'd be rolling along at about 95 mph but thinking you were treading water. I'll make no excuses, I am a someone who prefers power steering a the float of a big body Caddie over a two door coupe. I'm fragile and like to be cradled. To each his/her own. With this in mind, my Elium SL is a perfect fit. At least I didn't have any pre-ride biases going into the test ride of the carbon fiber Diamas SL.

We were off.

Two pedal strokes in and already the Diamas SL yielded a totally new feel, just totally different. The suspension/chip seal absorbing feel of my Elium was there, but the "fast" feel of a metal frame was present. I don't mean it felt like a metal frame, but it shared the "snappy" feeling of a frame that wanted to be pushed. Unfortunately the wind and the cold didn't make me want to push, I wanted to curl up on the couch under a blanket and dream of football season. See, very fragile. Over the course of the ride few things became clear to me:

1) First off, on a windy day a low profile (medium profile?) rim like a Ksyrium SL proved to be no benefit to me, I was getting tossed around like a rag doll.

Therefore, why would anyone want anything less than this?

2) Sele Italia makes a saddle shape that I get along with. I consider myself an SLR guy, but have been using their entry level Filante Flow on my commuter and other than being rock hard, it fits just as well. Both the Filante Flow and the Diamas SL's SLR Flow have the cut out, or whatever we're calling it these days, and I have decided that I do in fact have an opinion on the matter. I don't like'm as much. I'll stick with the non cut out thanks.

3) Carbon Fiber has it's place. I can see what all of the fuss is about. I was hoping to go into the ride and bolster an uneducated opinion that I was a metal and/or metal and carbon guy. I came out thinking, "yeah, I can see it." This isn't to say that I liked it better than my Elium SL, far from it. My bike is custom for me after all and fits like a glove. The ride is familiar, predictable and makes me want to crush hills. Up hills that is. The Diamas SL has a world of potential, but this one was a little too big, the handling was a little too cautious, and the silver braking surface kept me up all night.

4) Dan's the man. While I was getting thrown all over the loop and struggling to keep up, Dan set the pace and kept me in sight. I can't remember the last time I let the wind get to me in such a humiliating fashion. A few marg's the night before probably didn't help either but still. Thanks to Dan for keeping me around in the front half, the wind must have died down enough for me to stick with them the second half.

5) Brett from Philly. First timer to the ride, somehow he heard about the group ride and showed up on a sick Kuota. Philly must be full of nice people, I know because I have only met nice people. I haven't met Will Smith but he strikes me as a good guy as well and he likes to let the Alpine blast.

6) Bad news for my participation on this Sunday's ride. Thanks to a trip to the Rising Star of Connecticut to see Pearl Jam crank it up, I'll be in no shape to ride Sunday morning and likely won't even be in Massachusetts. Why would I go to Hartford to see them when they are playing in Boston just two night later? 'Cause I'll be there too. If you are like me and lost touch with Pearl Jam after the third album, I would suggest at the very least downloading "You Are" off of the Riot Act album and just tear into it. You can thank me later. I'm hoping to convince Neil to lead the ride this week, but no matter who leads just know that there is a ride.

That's all for now, see you soon.