Bike Authority Sale Aug 30-31!

Bike Authority has done an outstanding job with team SnakeBite this year and I was going to post their big sale and Gary beat me to it.

So here Gary gives all the info on it. Check it out!

Rick

The ride Brett & I didn't do

Yes, Brett didn't call me around noonish wanting to go on a hill ride and I didn't leave with him at around 2PM to ride 30 miles with three trips up Valley Pkwy from the bottom of the hill and we absolutely didn't ride the Cady Rd climb. We definitely were not out for 2 hours and under no circumstance drank a couple of cold beverages afterwards.

Yup, that's our story and we are sticking to it.

It was real nice NOT riding with you today, Brett. That is not a picture of Brett riding.

Sincerely Yours,
Rick

Old Home Vacation Rides

Rode with my high school buddy and his gang last Tuesday and then met with Gregg on his temporary turf to do a ride....he's moving up here within a week.



25 miles wit Chuck and 27 miles with Gregg....after the Tipp City ride these were just fun ones.

Rick

Valley City Race by SnakeBite Racing

Dr. John on the climb


Gary B charging up the hill.

Thanks to all that volunteered and raced Saturday. Linda and Pat did a great job as usual.

I've put the photos that I took at the race up on my FLICKR and will add more to this soon.

Shop Rats!

I rode 42 miles with three guys from Tipp Cyclery yesterday. SUPER GUYS from close to where I grew up in Troy.

Great guys and a fun fast ride with lots of sprints for county/city signs and KOM climbs. No, I didn't get any sprints and when I finally realized were I was and my fav hill I was coming up to (Horseshoe Bend Road)....I did get that KOM....I think
:-)

Took today off and hung out with family and my son.

Ciao,
Rick

Bloody Sunday

Me sport'n the new Velodrome kit.....

I think Michael is saying....how about shutting your pie hole and riding! :-)

Michael was nice enough to come down to Brecksville and go on a ride with me.

To say I felt like crap would be an understatement. It's nice to have someone drag you around for 35 miles w/o complaining....I was doing enough for both of us.

Thanks and I'll see you soon as a CAT IV soon, Michael!

Caio,
Rick

I'm on vacation this week and then the Valley City Race!

Olympic Track Cycling

Here's great info for Track Cycling schedule & what different races are going on.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/schedule?discId=15

'Cross thoughts

After seeing David's post....I looked at a photo that either David or Katie took and it sums up what 'cross has meant for me.

Thanks to Brent E. for the words of "encouragement" during one of the races at Copley last year. I'm looking forward to try to keep from getting lapped in the A Master's field this year. Not a high enough goal you think? Rudy, Dr. John, Bill M. are just three of the "hammers" in that group, and that A Masters race during the A's with Shawn A, Paul M, Ernesto....so there you go. Of course, maybe I can come up with an excuse for staying with the B's for another year like someone I know.....and it's NOT Gary.
:-)

Ciao,
Rick

Westlake Worlds

Saw Jason, JV & Michael in the B's I think....Tom "Killer" K , Dr John & I in the A's.
Gary had run 10 miles w/Sadie on Sunday and wasn't feeling the love for racing. Can't blame him for that.

So, I was hoping for some improvement from last week.....so how was this week's?

Pain, lots of pain.

7 laps were 27 avg mph. one was 28 avg mph. I never felt great or even good. I closed down some gaps, took a couple of quick pulls, but yuk! Normally when a break gets away, things slow down, but it was different....SBR wasn't in the break, but we only had three guys and were not going to bring it back by ourselves....not that I could have without blowing sky high....

Good news was I was able to fight off the cramps w/o getting blown off the back and I finished in the field.

Nice job Jason for getting 1st in the B's I believe.

HR - 157/170
spd - 26.6/36.1
watts - 284/937

compared to the prior week's data...it was tougher last night than on 8/5. Plus I didn't have the Zipps last night. :-)

ciao,
Rick

Greater Cleveland Tri

Gary B & Jimmy N were missing from this picture....

It's been a long day so just a quick one....Thanks for everyone that helped man the bike aid station this year. Congrats to the SBR multisports people that raced even though the swim was canceled.

I just uploaded the photos I took on my FLICKR.

More later....nite.

Lorain Track/Bike Racing Series

Gary asked me to come out to the series and promised I'd ride his track bike so I said "sure". Anna, Cooke & I piled into the Vibe and off we went. Eric G was going to meet us there and offered to borrow my NIKON D40X to take some shots. Eric is a talented guy (like Gary) photo-wise so I always like seeing what/how these guys handle a camera.
Sadie, Robert, Rudy, Julie (a fashionably late arrival), Michael L, Gary B along with a guy from Dale's on a MTB bike and another guy.....

Peter G. runs a great, laid back and fun race(s).....with a flexible format and just flat out fun.

Robert, Emily & I were the only ones with fixies, so I wanted to help them out and still get a good workout in. Robert was great and even caught me by surprise on one lap by timing his sprint just right. Nice JOB!


All-n-all, a great night and we finished just before the storm blew in from the lake.

Thanks for the photos, Eric and I've posted them on my FLICKR.

Ciao,
Rick

Zipp 404 Tubies

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sherman at The Bike Authority for loaning me the demo Zipp 404s with 20cm Vittoria tubies.
Damn, those are some tasty wheels and tires.
I used them for the Westlake Worlds on Tuesday and they felt great and comfy. I had inflated them per BKW's advise; 7.5 BAR front and 8 BAR back. The handling is great, spinning up to speed is fantastic; the weight is only 1252 grams...OMG.
I had used Zipp 303 for the Westlake Zipp night and had really liked them also (D'oh!) but I was able to ride a "recovery" ride on the 404s the next day b/f returning them (I didn't get back from a meeting in Cowlumbus until after the shop had closed); you really feel the difference riding solo....the ride, the feel, the sound....yikes! Time to start saving for a set of the 404 Cyclocross (1364 grams) set...I may not pull it off for this year though, but I know what I want now.

*I do not pretend to be an expert of wheelsets (I'm a crash, er CAT IV)....I just know what I like and thought I'd share it.

Thanks again for the photo, Gary.

Ciao,
Rick

Westlake Worlds A Group

Yes, Jimmy, we know you are racing B Group and are on the team......
:-)


Another Tuesday, another round of the "worlds". B's consisted of Jason R. JV. David K, Jimmy N and Matt T. A's consisted of David S, Tom "Killer" K and I. Gary B had dead legs from his Sunday double of the "super sprint tri" and Zoar race. He agreed to use my NIKON D40X to record the event. I wasn't feeling great; lingering stomach issues from Mexico and with last weeks cramping fresh in my mind.....

Plenty of Lake Effect & Spin riders out with some Team Columbus (the Death Ray) & RGF guys, Brett D was representing Solon "solo".....looked like Spin and Lake Effect would be able to control the race. The Paul M train was not there.

Unlike "Zipp Night" where everyone had the same advantage; I had been by Bike Authority and had asked if I could try out the Demo 404 tubular that they had; Sherman said np; if I break em, I bought them! :-) (I'm going to do a short review separately)

I can tell that David is wondering what the heck I'm doing on the front working to bring the early break back....

The race started and I felt pretty good; many attacks went and were brought back, I took some pulls, was able to go back and recover and move around the field; I was concerned about cramping the last 5 laps so took it conservatively due to finishing with the group was my primary concern. Once it looked like I was going to able to finish w/o cramps (2 to go) I started thinking of ways to help Tom and/or getting into decent position if there was going to be a group sprint. I had targeted a couple of people that I wanted to finish with or ahead of and was able to move up and even in the mess of the group sprint, I was able to position myself and finish close to Tom K.
I've got a ton of improvement to do, but I'm glad that I have moved up to the A's.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten to change my Polar to accommodate for the fact I was running 20cm tubies instead of the 23s that I usually run. So my spd numbers are not accurate:
25.9 avg/36.9 max
277 avg/833 max watts
151 avg/ 167 max hr

Congrats to Jason & JV in the Bs for the 2-1 finish.

Tom K got a cash prime and finished just out of the money at the end & David was off the front, worked his a$$ off and finished in the field.

Hopefully I'll improve more during next weeks' worlds.

Thanks for taking the pictures, Gary...they are here.

Ciao,
Rick

The Weekend

Rode 16 miles on the tow path with the Bianchi Friday....then "rocked out" to Rock Band for PS2 I just bought that night until 4AM. Thanks GAWD no pictures of that are around.

Saturday was looking like a Surfing, not a biking day so we packed up the boards along with Justin and Abby and went to wonderful Edgewater Park....surf was choppy but I had fun teaching Michelle & Justin some basics of surfing.

Sunday, Justin & I went to Bike Authority so he could check out & test ride the Cervelo Soloist Team. Sean did a great job fitting him on the bike. He's a big boy and at a 61cm size, the bike only weighed 18.5 and rode better than anything he has been on so far. A video of him riding....

After that, I wanted to get some miles in so I headed off towards Chagrin Falls. Climbing up the hill in the Bedford Reservation, I decided to jump on it close to the top and promptly flipped over my bars....wtf? I'm on my back looking at my bike on top of me and see that the rear wheel has come out??? Well, nothing wrong with the bike or me other than feeling somewhat stupid, so I laughed it off and keep riding. I get to Chagrin Falls and notice that my back wheel is really low on air. I had switched bikes and was riding the To Ritchey so that I would be riding clinchers, you know easy to fix if you get a flat. Well, it wasn't; my spare tube has not been used for almost two years. Big mistake. It blew up as the kid in the shop was pumping it up and almost gave him a heart attack! I ended up putting a patch on the tube and leaving. The rest of the trip was uneventful and by the end of the day I had ridden about 56 miles. Beautiful day, great tunes and a good time with a cookout afterwards. And some more Rock Band.
:-)

Ciao,
Rick