Thursday, October 27, 2011
Still Here...
The boy continues to grow, and boy is he cute!
Hopefully you've been following the Team Gates Carbon Drive cyclocross updates on the Gates blog.
More stuff coming soon!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Marco Simoncelli; Jan. 20, 1987 - Oct. 23ober 2011
A horrible crash took Marco Simoncelli yesterday at the Sepang circuit. He was probably my favorite rider to watch, riding aggressively on the track, and giving lively interviews to the press. No doubt, a first of many MotoGP wins was in his future.
Marco's spare waits in the Sepang paddock for his return.
Winter is coming, and my moto rides to work are likely very short in-number for this season. So it seemed fitting to ride in today, enjoying the crisp fall weather, and changing leaves.
Marco's spare waits in the Sepang paddock for his return.
Winter is coming, and my moto rides to work are likely very short in-number for this season. So it seemed fitting to ride in today, enjoying the crisp fall weather, and changing leaves.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Team Gates Carbon Drive Bikes!
I was trying for the longest time to get the blog caught-up, but time wasn't cooperating and it just wasn't working out. So now it's time to just start fresh and pick up from right about here. And might as well start with a brand new bike for the first post!
I am lucky to once again be riding the amazing crew at Gates, on the Team Gates Carbon Drive cyclocross team for 2011! We're hoping to have another, increadibly succesful year, and definitely have the bikes to do that! We'll be riding carbon fiber single speed frames from Raleigh, designed to accept the Gates Belt Drive of course. The belt break is very clean, and uses a removeable portion of the metal dropout, to allow the break right at the droupout;
We are riding the newest CenterTrack version of the belt drive. This belt offers a lower profile, even more amazing mud and debris cleaning and tolerates misalignment better than the CDX systems we were running last year. On my first ride, I didn't expect the drivetrain to feel any smoother than the CDX, but I was shocked that it was indeed, noticeably smoother!
And lets be honest... it's not a bad thing that it looks a lot cooler too! The bike itself rides amazing! It was a lot of fun to check out the variety of new trails at the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder. The Raleigh has that incredibly smooth carbon ride that doesn't sound like something you "have to have" on a cross bike... until you ride a carbon cross bike. Then everything else seems old-fashioned! It definitely doesn't hurt the ride (or the run-ups) that my bike weighed in at 15.2lbs. That's even without getting too involved with using extra lightweight parts!
The excellent components from FSA and EA90 wheels from Easton are all great, high-quality bits. Even more importantly, they'll handle the rigors and extra stress on the cross bike. And I was pumped that TRP provided us with not just their EuroX brakes, but also the sweet new single speed brake levers as well! The shape of the hood and lever are awesome; bringing updated shapes to single speed riders, and the push-button brake release is perfect on a cross bike.
10 minutes into my first ride, and I didn't even think about the bike - which means it more than passed the test! I can't wait to mount up the tubulars and really push the bike!
Keep an eye on the Gates Blog for updates from the team's exploits this season, and I'll have some more updates as well!
I am lucky to once again be riding the amazing crew at Gates, on the Team Gates Carbon Drive cyclocross team for 2011! We're hoping to have another, increadibly succesful year, and definitely have the bikes to do that! We'll be riding carbon fiber single speed frames from Raleigh, designed to accept the Gates Belt Drive of course. The belt break is very clean, and uses a removeable portion of the metal dropout, to allow the break right at the droupout;
We are riding the newest CenterTrack version of the belt drive. This belt offers a lower profile, even more amazing mud and debris cleaning and tolerates misalignment better than the CDX systems we were running last year. On my first ride, I didn't expect the drivetrain to feel any smoother than the CDX, but I was shocked that it was indeed, noticeably smoother!
And lets be honest... it's not a bad thing that it looks a lot cooler too! The bike itself rides amazing! It was a lot of fun to check out the variety of new trails at the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder. The Raleigh has that incredibly smooth carbon ride that doesn't sound like something you "have to have" on a cross bike... until you ride a carbon cross bike. Then everything else seems old-fashioned! It definitely doesn't hurt the ride (or the run-ups) that my bike weighed in at 15.2lbs. That's even without getting too involved with using extra lightweight parts!
The excellent components from FSA and EA90 wheels from Easton are all great, high-quality bits. Even more importantly, they'll handle the rigors and extra stress on the cross bike. And I was pumped that TRP provided us with not just their EuroX brakes, but also the sweet new single speed brake levers as well! The shape of the hood and lever are awesome; bringing updated shapes to single speed riders, and the push-button brake release is perfect on a cross bike.
10 minutes into my first ride, and I didn't even think about the bike - which means it more than passed the test! I can't wait to mount up the tubulars and really push the bike!
Keep an eye on the Gates Blog for updates from the team's exploits this season, and I'll have some more updates as well!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Busy Weekend!
Definitely a busy weekend; starting at 4.30am on Friday! Sebastian was born at 11.20am, Friday the 13th (my little monster), 5lbs. 11oz., 19in. long. All three of us made it home Sunday afternoon, and have survived the first night. Time for a Monday that's different from all the previous Mondays!
More details soon, since I have a tiny human sleeping in one arm, and only have one arm to type with!
More details soon, since I have a tiny human sleeping in one arm, and only have one arm to type with!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
DEFCON 3
Holy shit... today means there is just 3 more weeks until the due date for Magnum Excaliber Skelator to show up. That's a bit frightening.
In the meantime, I've been trying to get a good look at the incredible planet alignment that's going on. Though the weather really hasn't been cooperating. I thought this morning would be good, but it was so cold, that we had a lot of fog in the air. At least I learned I should set my alarm a bit earlier for tomorrow, though getting up at 5am sounds like a horrible idea. Anyway, here is what things SHOULD "look like";
I killed some time last week, building up a pretty cool set of wheels too. I haven't used the Tune Schwarzbrenner 24mm clincher rims before, so it was interesting to see how they built.
They were actually quite nice... a good thing given the pricing! But overall had a great finish and built up round and true, without too much hassle.
It was also nice to build these up with a much more "reasonable" pair of hubs. A pair that you can use every day and don't need to baby. These used Sapim CX-ray spokes, laced to an Alchemy Elf front hub - far and away my absolute favorite front hub. Nothing else even comes close.
The rear didn't have much flash, but that's fine, it was built with a lovely, standard DT-240 hub. No nonesense and pretty much bombproof.
So yeah, I still don't totally get the plan to use a carbon clincher rim on a wheelset like this, given the cost:benefit ratio, but this did build a nice, relatively low spoke count wheel, that was still a very cool weight - just 1,287g for a clincher wheelset.
In the meantime, I've been trying to get a good look at the incredible planet alignment that's going on. Though the weather really hasn't been cooperating. I thought this morning would be good, but it was so cold, that we had a lot of fog in the air. At least I learned I should set my alarm a bit earlier for tomorrow, though getting up at 5am sounds like a horrible idea. Anyway, here is what things SHOULD "look like";
I killed some time last week, building up a pretty cool set of wheels too. I haven't used the Tune Schwarzbrenner 24mm clincher rims before, so it was interesting to see how they built.
They were actually quite nice... a good thing given the pricing! But overall had a great finish and built up round and true, without too much hassle.
It was also nice to build these up with a much more "reasonable" pair of hubs. A pair that you can use every day and don't need to baby. These used Sapim CX-ray spokes, laced to an Alchemy Elf front hub - far and away my absolute favorite front hub. Nothing else even comes close.
The rear didn't have much flash, but that's fine, it was built with a lovely, standard DT-240 hub. No nonesense and pretty much bombproof.
So yeah, I still don't totally get the plan to use a carbon clincher rim on a wheelset like this, given the cost:benefit ratio, but this did build a nice, relatively low spoke count wheel, that was still a very cool weight - just 1,287g for a clincher wheelset.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Starry Night
The stars were finally out the other night.
But it was still only 28 degrees and windy, so my time outside was very limited.
But it was still only 28 degrees and windy, so my time outside was very limited.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Moonstruck
It didn't take long, walking around in public last weekend, to realize that the full-moon was upon us. People get absolutely (more) insane whenever the moon is showing it's full brightness. I wish I knew why. Anyway, that made me want to mess around with some camera time, but the clouds and crappy weather had already started to blow in. Still, had some fun over-exposing some shots; like this one. Cool around the moon, but wild that there really wasn't even any of the city-light visible to the eye at the bottom of the picture.
Clouds, haze, and a full moon... not to mention some light rain blowing around, just to make things wonky. Still kinda fun though.
The next night had a lot fewer clouds, but there was still a good amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Still... with some playing around (quickly, before my battery died) I got a moon pic with a fair amount of detail.
I have a few more thinsg I wanted to play with trying to capture... but it has literally been raining and/or snowing for the past 10 days or so. Ah, spring in Colorado.
Clouds, haze, and a full moon... not to mention some light rain blowing around, just to make things wonky. Still kinda fun though.
The next night had a lot fewer clouds, but there was still a good amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Still... with some playing around (quickly, before my battery died) I got a moon pic with a fair amount of detail.
I have a few more thinsg I wanted to play with trying to capture... but it has literally been raining and/or snowing for the past 10 days or so. Ah, spring in Colorado.
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