Month: April 2007

After destroying the last pair of race shoes through use, I’ve invested in the latest version. I’m not convinced by boa type systems that use a wire or vectran cable to close the shoes, so the S-Works versions didn’t appeal, although I can’t say I am a fan of the horrible red soles in any case. So  I’ve gone for a new pair – 07 Specialized Body Geometry Pros with the carbon soles and very nice they are too.

I have one niggle with them. On the inside of each shoe on the arch side of the foot I can feel the mounting point for the X-Link strap. This seems to be because there is little (if any) padding between the inner mesh fabric and the shoe outer into which the buckle and strap mounting points are attached.

I had thought it might be the screw (being too long) that holds the strap to the strap mount on the shoes, but it’s definitely the plastic mounting for the strap. The lower part of it below the screw is the bit that is causing the problem.

Although on the first ride this didn’t seem an issue, on the ride to work they were really uncomfortable to wear because of the pressure point this creates. I had a think about what I could stick on the inside of the shoe to stop this from happening and after trying foam and rubber and various options decided that if the shoes don’t fit make them fit.

Out came the scalpel and just before I started operating on them, I decided I’d remove the cross link strap completely. I was quite surprised to discover that this immediately made them more comfy to wear. A closer look revealed why – below the lowest eyelet was a 15mm strip of strap that protruded into the inner of the shoe creating the pressure point. With the help of a burly pair of sharp scissors I chopped off the excess strap material and refitted them to find it had cured the problem.

I’m fairly sure other riders must have had this problem too or are at least putting up with it. It seems such a little thing, but is has made all the difference.

I spoke to the team at Independent Fabrication with my IF Owners’ Club hat on. We’ve decided to get some joint publicity via a new biking publication. This is what we came up with:

If you ride fixed, commute or have to deal with urban city biking on a regular basis we think that you’ll like the new ‘zine. The Indy Fab fixie in the photo belongs to a nice guy from New Zealand who has not one, but two rather special bikes.

Yesterday was a road ride in a chain gang with the University team. This is quite a big development as I haven’t been out on what is a proper roadie bike ride for about five years. Sunday’s ride took in Swiss Hill up the back of Alderley Edge and the cobbled climb up from Bollington to the top of the Brickworks. Cracking climbs and some ace descents too. It was good to get out and home again before the rain.

I bumped into Femke van Schelven‘s dad on Saturday. Since finishing her physiotherapy degree and qualifying she’s made the highly sensible choice to take a year out and race. She’s used her dutch roots to make a base in the Netherlands and is racing extensively in the Benelux region for the Moving Ladies team. It seems a long time since we worked in Harry Halls together, but I’m stoked to see she’s mixing it up with the pro women.

Jeff Guerrero and Brad Q. from Dirt Rag have parted ways with Karen and co and gone on to setup their own fanzine – Urban Cyclist. I suspect that Maurice will ensure that Dirt Rag goes on without them being involved and will continue (I hope) to represent a quality mag run by nice people. I ain’t going to be cancelling my subscription because of it. I’m sure the changes in staff will allow some more cool people to get involved in DR.

I think that Jeff and Brad’s new venture is just going to fill a fairly unexploited niche in the market. I’ve an article I’m going to fire over to Brad and some pics from my trip to Boston last year for Jeff. We’ll see what happen’s next.

Now up to version four the new website for the former Singletrack Magazine Information Bureau (a reference resource of the magazine contents), is now live.

There’s a host of few new features including a page with all the covers on, more information (including cover and contents photographer credits for each issue) and better search facilities and product test categorisation. Check it out if you want to find out when that product you’re thinking of buying was last tested.

I’m updating the Owner’s Club Website today. I’ve decided that Porter Pink and Carbon go well together too.

Following on from reading Alex’s post the other day about the company he works for made me ponder the following. The employer in question is currently on the cusp of a new ‘Green Environmental Policy’. Alex points out his firm makes nothing but money and burns nothing but graduates. It made me wonder if the following leaked memo is also from them:

VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL EMPLOYEES
Company Policy: Effective from January 2007

Dress Code

It is advised that you come to work dressed according to your salary. If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a Gucci bag, we assume you are doing well financially and therefore do not need a raise. If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your money better, so that you buy nicer clothes, and therefore you do not need a raise. If you dress just right, you are right where you need to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

Sick Days

We will no longer accept a doctors statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

Annual Leave Days

Each employee will receive 104 Annual Leave days a year. They are called Saturday & Sunday.

Bereavement Leave

This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend to the arrangements. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early.

Toilet Use

Entirely too much time is being spent in the toilet. There is now a strict three-minute time limit in the stalls At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open, and a picture will be taken. After your second offence, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under the Chronic offenders category. Anyone caught smiling in the picture will be sanctioned under the company’s mental health policy.

Lunch Break

Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch, as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy. Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure. Chubby people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that’s all the time needed to drink a Slim-Fast.

Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience. Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplation’s, consternation and input should be directed elsewhere.

It’s not just Formula One cars that suffer from tyre blisters…

The Continental GP4000s on the road bike have been getting a bit battered since the more powerful Dura Ace brake callipers were fitted last year. I’m not convinced it is actually blistering, but locking up the rear wheel isn’t doing these tyres any good.

What happens to a tyre during build up to blistering, is that the chemical composition of the outer casing, begins to change, usually due to too much heat. Road debris is however another common cause. This can rip little chunks of rubber out of the tyre, especially when friction (generated under braking) makes the tyre hot and therefore very soft and easily damaged.

These are often mistaken for blisters, because the visual evidence is similar. Real blisters occur when the tyre gets hot and the outer rubber begins to melt and crumble apart. This usually happens in small areas and the rubber can bubble. This can look like a blister and after it occurs, rubber begins to chunk off and leave little holes in the tyre.

Sometimes you find a product that is just so good that you never want to use anything else. Specialized Body Geometry Pro Mountain Bike Shoes have been my weapon of choice for well over five years. After a couple of seasons of racing and riding including a TransAlp and the Cape Epic the third pair of shoes are now going to have to be retired.

The upper has worn through to holes on the outside edges of both shoes and most of the rubber sole lugs have been cut clear away – that remaining isn’t properly stuck to the shoe any more. When I was out riding last week there were a couple of sketchy moments when, needing grip all the shoes had to offer was slippy plastic and I might as well have been wearing a pair of road shoes. This enforced retirement comes at a bad time, because it’s really too warm to wear the other riding option – a pair of Shimano Winter Boots – and leaves a very old pair of Cannondale Trail shoes (normally used for commuting) to take up the role of appropriate riding wear.

Alex Leigh over at Pickled Hedgehog found a rather amusing link to a chap called Mike Grieve. Mike clearly fancies himself as a bit of a contender for the Redbull Rampage, but unfortunately he’s finding that there is a fairly steep progression curve to becoming a freeride demigod.

With more YouTube madness out there it was interesting to see that the Norwegian behind this video – skiing down Europe’s largest escalator at the Angel Tube Station in London, actually made it into the national news via the BBC website. Finally anyone with any interest in fast cars will find this short clip of American rally driver Ken Block setting an immense 175ft gap jump in a Works Subaru more interesting than watching recent F1 Gran Prixs. I suspect the broken windscreen that resulted from the landing was the least of the worries to the structure of the car…

This came through via email today:

I want to thank those of you that have provided us feedback about out MyOutdoors.net project. It has been quite valuable in developing the site. Unfortunately, we have not had time to continue marketing the site and have decided to see if anyone else would be interested in continuing to develop it and are putting it up for sale.

If you have any interest in the site, please let us know and if you think any of your readers might be interested in it, we would greatly appreciate spreading the word to them. We’ve spent a lot of time on the site and really hate to see it languish. Here is the blog post we made about it, with links to our listings:

http://myoutdoors.blogspot.com/2007/04/myoutdoorsnet-is-up-for-sale.html

Thanks again for your support. With some of your help, hopefully we can find someone who will be able to devote some more time to it.

I did think that for a minute it was Outdoorzy, but then it soon became clear that it was actually a completely different site. I’m sure that things will work out for them. Although it was a US orientated site in terms of content, the application of Google Maps and the added content was a great idea. Other than Google Maps, they use AJAX and XML to deliver info without readers constantly having to reload the page, providing a smoother web experience and an interactive application.

On Friday I took the road bike out and spun around the Cheshire lanes. It’s a familiar route, one that requires no planning or real thought and one that can be as long or as short as you want it to be. From Altrincham, you ride towards Alderley Edge and onwards to Macclesfield and up the Cat and Fiddle towards Buxton. I haven’t really enjoyed riding the road for a few years. I think part of it is to do with the traffic, but I think a big part of it is that there is no excitement. I know the roads. I know where they go. There isn’t much chance of getting lost or discovering something new. For some reason when you’re offroad even familiar trails give a buzz.

Saturday I caught up with the guys in Harry Halls. It’s been a long time since I spent much time in the shop and it was great to find out what everyone is up to these days. Of course since I stopped working there has been an increase in competition. Manchester now has an Evans and an Edinburgh Bicycle Co-Op, but despite the money behind both chains they seem to offer little threat to the depth of experience, field of knowledge and the genuinely ‘passionate about cycling’ attitude of the staff in Harrys.

This afternoon I headed back over to Llandegla. Since my last visit they’ve opened another 2km of black run. If it really is only an extra 2km then I’m surprised, it seems like a lot more. Either way the designers have done another great job of using the hillside to maximum effect to pack in as many swoops, berms, rollers and jumps as possible. The best thing about the forest is that it is so easy to double back and do the best bits again and again. I think it only fair to say that two or three runs on each of the best sections is now compulsory…

After two weeks away the flat has a distinctive smell. Wood and fabric that has been warming in the sunlight. It’s strange to come home after such a long break especially when there is such a big temperature difference between Manchester and Cape Town. The bikes both made it home, so tonight I need to unpack properly and check them over and make sure they survived international travel. It looks like a lot has happened since I left a couple of weeks ago for the race.

Singletrack gave us some lekker coverage via a couple of updates (stages 1 to 3 and 4 to 5) and there has been support from a number of friends including Nick and Chilly. You know what I want to do this weekend? I want to go riding and try and forget about the Cape Epic. I want to see the green hills and lush forests. I want to get muddy. Wet. Cold. It’s great to be home in the UK.