This coming weekend I will be in Arlington for the “BIG” race. It should be interesting working my first semi-pro race as an official! I was selected to work as a volunteer official.
Work has been interesting at best, last week was some “schooling” in California. I got to experience my first earthquake, even if it was only a minor after shock. I alrwady knew most of the product line but it was still fun to see CA and meet some some new people. The economy totally sucks and the coomercial work is dropping off BIG time. I truly think that things arw going to get a good bit worse before everything stabilizes and we seem see some upturns. It sure would be nice to find some way to pull the cycling community together and “network” to help each other out!
Now if I could just get some drive back in to the cycling again!

It’s a little late, but better late than never right?  I decided to write this review because I recently changed out all of my old Look to Shimano.  When I first started on a “road style” clip I used a Look Delta pedal that was on a bike that was given to me.  They were old, but they worked.  So I stuck with them.  When I upgraded my Felt F90 to the Felt F5C I put those pedals on it.  When I was given the Time Trial bike for Father’s Day by my awesome wife I put on a set of inexpensive Forte pedals from Performance Bike.  Then came the track bike, that bike got a new set of Look brand pedals that use the older Delta style cleat as well.  I noticed no difference at all between any of the pedals as far as performance  I fully agree with what First Dropped said in regards to the Forte pedals: “These are just like the Looks in every way except the price.”

When my wife started cycling a couple years ago she was persuaded to go to the “other side” and put Shimano pedals on her bike.  So, we had my three bikes with Look and her Felt Z35 with Shimano.  Next came the trainer bike.  A mid-80’s Raleigh Technium Pro that came with authentic vintage Shimano pedals.  When I got home with that bike I hopped on it with my Look Delta cleats and clipped right in!  The weekend after I got it I rode 35 miles with the Look Delta cleats on Shimano pedals.  There was no play or slop when pedaling.  The only thing I noticed was a little extra float when compared to my other pedals.

This is getting a bit long winded so I’ll get back on track.  I noticed a clicking sound when riding my F5C on the road.  It sounded to be coming from the pedals so I swapped pedals.  It was still clicking with the other pedals.  I could always recreated the clicking sounding by lifting hard on the up stroke and then quickly bringing my foot in to the down stroke.  This sound was driving me nuts so the next step was to get new cleats.  That proved impossible locally seeing as EVERYONE is using either Shimano or Keo.  I don’t want to have to rely on online retailers for something as simple as a cleat.  I also did not want to have to wait for a local shop to order them in.  My trainer bike and Amber’s bike already were set up for Shimano.  The logical choice at this point was to go Shimano so that all of our bikes were the same.

I purchased one set of 105 pedals for the F5C and one set of standard Shimano pedals for the Track bike.  I rode the F5C on the 100 mile Tour de Cure the day after I installed then and noticed no major difference between the pedals.  I rode the Track bike last weekend in the wind for the Saturday morning Pungo loop and again noticed no huge difference between a Look Delta and Shimano pedal.  Ironically, the clicking continued when I was riding the Felt FC with the new pedals and cleats.  After much tinkering I think I fixed it by tightening the crank bolt and bottom bracket.

The arguments I was given when I mentioned switching to Shimano were that the Shimano pedal is slightly wider than the Look Keo or Speedplay and that Shimano was harder to clip in to.   The greater width meant more care when cornering.  The difficulty clipping in was not much of a concern.  When I compared the Shimano pedals and the Delta style pedals they were about the same width.  I found that I did like the Shimano better in one aspect.  The front of the Shimano cleat has more height which I found made it easier for me to clip in.  Ultimately, I think that the Shimano vs. Look argument is like the one photographers have with Canon vs. Nikon.  Both have advantages and disadvantages, what is right, what is better comes down to a matter of opinion.

Well it seems that I only can get on here and throw out one post a month so here it is… and it wont be too long… just a little update.  Work is going ok, the market is rough.  The construction industry as a whole SUCKS!  People are getting laid off left and right and the work isnt starting up fast enough right now.  We, Bay Equipment, are doing alright thanks to a great base that was built years ago.

On the cycling front… I used the Tour De Cure as a “kick off” to my training and have been riding a bit more.  I wouldn’t say I am in peak form but I have felt pretty good the last few times out on the bike.  I guess we’ll see on Sunday at the Fort Lee Sprint in to Spring Crit.  I actually paid the money to do the race.  I guess that means I have to be there to do the race.

There has been a lot of blogging and commenting about cyclists and their rights on the road.  I will stay semi-neutral and say this:  We move slower than the flow of traffic and are sharing the road with a lot of people who only want to get from point a to point b in the fastest way possible.  Keep that in mind when you are riding that narrow country road with no shoulder during rush hour as you get “buzzed” by the redneck in the big pickup truck.

So, I bought a new bike… but not a new bike… it’s an old bike… probably from the the late 80’s… it’s a Raleigh Technium Pro.  I went to look at it for a friend.  It’s was listed on craigslist.com as a Raleigh 50cm with Shimano 105 and the owner wasnt sure of the year.  When I saw it the bikewas so cool I had to have it.  The frame is a butted mix of aluminum and steel.  It has a 53/42 front and 7 speed rear cog.  Gum wall 700×20 tires and some crazy funky Specialized handle bars with a lower flat area.

Anywhoooo…. I decided to get the bike and if the person I purchased it for didnt want it I would use it for myself… by the time I got home that day I decided I was keeping the darn thing!  I rode it last night on the Pungo loop for the first time.

What a ride, the bike was SMOOTH!  The aluminum/steel combo made for an awesome ride.  New Bridge road was nice, I felt good, then a little further in to the loop the weight of the bike started to settle in.  The bike is HEAVY!  The “trail of tears” was hell!  A steady cross wind made the bike feel like it was filled with lead.  What is even sadder is that the wind wasn’t even that bad!!!!  I slowed down a bit through the ride and just enjoyed the old school retro ride.

When I got home I picked up the Technium Pro and my Felt F5C and was amazed at how much of a weight difference there is.  My Felt felt like it weighed 1/2 as much as the Technium, but in reality it was probably 1/3 as much.  One of these days I’ll have to weigh the bikes.  In the meantime I am going to enjoy the retro ride and get some good training in!

Oh… Kyle’s wife posted some great pics from the Jeff Cup this past weekend: http://amyjones.zenfolio.com/p746541536

I know it’s been a while, and I will post something of some substance soon.  But… I am curious to know is a 2006 Litespeed Vortex with Campy Record and Zipp 404’s worth 2200-2500.  Is this one of those deals that are too good to pass up?

So I watched American Idol tonight and saw our “track bike riding” friend, Kanye West. So what the heck was that performance?? yo,Yo yo and all that synthesized crap, come on! Why is it that Kanye can actually still get a TV spot? What happened to people that can actually sing?

That list of confirmed riders for the Sleepy Hole Crit this weekend is pretty light…. Sleepy Hole Smackdown Confirmed Riders List.

So for those that havent signed up for this, the first BAR race of the season, you better get on over to BikeReg.com and register!

http://www.bikereg.com/events/Register.asp?EventID=7871

I forgot how much it hurts to train!  I rode to the Spinervals DVD Enter The Red Zone on Wednesday.  I didn’t just ride I pushed myself HARD!  Probably too hard!  I dont know if it was the squats or the riding itself, but my inner thighs have been screaming!  Today I was still hurting!  That didnt keep me off the bike though.  I braved Dam Neck Road to ride out to the Scorch Plex and help someone teach someone some group riding techniques for the Tour De Cure.  The first mile or so was rough… my inner thighs didnt want to be pedaling at all!  Once I was warmed up I was thinking the ride wasnt going too bad.  I was actually feeling pretty good.  I knew I was riding with somewhat of a tail wind, but I didnt realize exactly how much of one until I looked down at the speedometer and saw 27.5!  27.5 is ok, but I was feeling next to nothing for effort.  The ride back was going to SUCK!!!  After about 10 miles of going round in circles I headed back home.  The wind did SUCK!  I did make it home and was glad I got out and rode.  Now lets see if I can get myself out of bed tomorrow and ride again!

All that great weather last week, warm temps and lots of sun.  Then you have today… cold and windy.  The fact that there was frost on the car windows made it a bit more difficult to drag my lazy butt out of bed to ride!  I was glad I did though.  A relatively quick pace out to the bottom of the loop then a nice steady pace out to the Creeds store.  My bike also started to make a horrid high pitched grinding noise while coasting.  When I got back home I tore down the freewheel on my Ksyriums and found that the pawls were dry.  I cleaned them up oiled them with some mineral oil and tested it all out.  The noise was gone.  A little rubbing alcohol to clean the break surface on the wheel and all is good now!

The ride today has me very concerned about my fitness level and preparedness for the upcoming race season as a Cat 4.  It seemed that I didnt have my legs.  There is a few weeks left to train and I’ll just have to push myself that much harder.  Oh and actually listen to my wife when she screams at me to get out of bed and ride in the mornings.