After years of procrastinating I got myself back to the velodrome for some track style race action. The last time I raced track was in 1998 at the Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose. I have been hitting up the Wednesday night training sessions for the past month or so. On Saturday I managed a 2nd place in the snowball race. That was kind of a shock to me since I hadn’t wound up a nice sprint in competition in a long time. I got a tasty leadout with 1/2 a lap to go on lap 5 and came around and got the guy by about 1/2 a wheel. In the next race I struggled and fell off the pace. I was undergeared and like a knucklehead I left my cogs and sprockets at home. The last race was a 32 lapper with sprints for points every 8. I went off the front twice trying to jack up the race and it nearly worked. I got nabbed and lost out on the points on lap 24. After that the field was busted all apart and the officials pulled everyone except the first 3 racers with 2 to go. I ended up tied for 4th in the omnium which is nice. It feels good to know that even at 39 I can still stick it to some of the younger guys!
I went up to SF for ad:tech last week. I took BART over to visit my granny in the hospital. That train ride brought back all sorts of memories from years ago. The urine smell was noticeable like usual way down in the Powell St station. The same squeaky ride, the same deal all around. More to come…
My wife and I bought a Yukon XL today. Dang. It rides great and can haul the kids and ALL of our junk!
On Saturday I ended up demoing the stand and getting the entire thing reworked. New wood and all that stuff. By Sunday afternoon it was all back together and happy. There was a small leak on the cold water inlet that I fixed quickly late Sunday night. That was easy. The soldering of the P&T pipe wasn’t so bad either. Hot water is good.
Bicycle John’s in Acton had a demo day on Sunday. It was great. Lots of bikes to try out and free burgers! I tried a Look 595 with Dura-Ace. It was awesome. I took the bike out on Sierra Hwy and rode at about 14 mph to get the feel of it. The Dura-Ace compnents are very very nice. Instant shifting! Once onto Soledad Canyon I let it rip down hill for about 2 miles. Top gear boogie. This bike shined at speed. No shimmy, no problems, just straight smooth speed. Climbing seemed effortless which was expected since the bike only weighed 16 lbs. and a few ounces. At $7,000 I will not be getting one soon. Next up was an Eddy Merckx sXm with Chorus. This bike is the real deal. The laid back geometry suited me perfect. I took both hands off the bar and drank some water. The bike went straight and stayed true. Very nice. At speed this bike rocks! No sketchiness at all, very stable and comfortable. The Chorus parts were nice and crisp. The Neutron wheels were sweet. Nice acceleration when I hammered it. The next demo bike was a Pinarello F4:13. This bike was a bit too big for me but none the less I gave it a shot. The Rolf wheels were immediately noticeable. Very light and responsive, probably too fragile for me (the rep said they were a climbers wheel so you needed to be a bit careful). The frame was very stiff in the bottom bracket which resulted in easy speed with hard pedaling. I took my hands off the bar for a drink and almost crashed. The front end was twitchy which would be nice for crit racing but a little buggy for my tastes. This bike was outfitted with an ergometer. The display had so much info I can’t even remember it all. I cranked it up to over 800 watts for a few seconds which was fun. Overall this bike would be a great crit racer but I am sure that I would take the cheaper (only in $$) Eddy Mercks sXm over the Pinarello F4:13 due to its stable geometry. It simply suites my riding style better. So now I need to rustle up 4G’s to get my dream bike put together. Soon, very soon.
