Do You Road Bike?

[UDRider]

According to the way I read the rules I have to swap out the bars or I would race it as is. Currently 3x9 with Deore XT.

My Dawes has what ever you would expect a Wal-Mart level bike to have (in the background).

http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=443704&d=1400981681

I'll be replacing most of the components on my rain bike within couple of month, if you want I can send you my old ones. Nothing fancy first gen SRAM Force, and Rival FD and RD. I also have a Force crank, but it seems to through chain under load in smaller gears. At least on my bike. Kind of fucking scary when sprinting.

 

[slydrite]

I do at least 25 mi on weekends (Sawyer - Crystal Springs) on my Cannondale Super6.

That place is a zoo on weekends with clueless pedestrians.

During the week, it's way better, but still have peds wandering around. I love riding there - the beginning part of the southbound direction is like Sears Point for bicycles, in that if you want to go through the downhill corners without braking, you need to be online! It's awesome in that way.

Are you on the barf Strava group?

 

[kelsodeez]

I do at least 25 mi on weekends (Sawyer - Crystal Springs) on my Cannondale Super6.

hey thats my hood! i used to do sawyer trail a couple times a week, but the climb after the dam got way too easy for me so now i pass the trail and go down crystal springs to climb up polhemus and go over the freeway to ride canada road.

we should all set up a barf group ride some time

 

[Sidewalk]

I'll be replacing most of the components on my rain bike within couple of month, if you want I can send you my old ones. Nothing fancy first gen SRAM Force, and Rival FD and RD. I also have a Force crank, but it seems to through chain under load in smaller gears. At least on my bike. Kind of fucking scary when sprinting.

Oh hell yes, please! The parts will be worth more then the bike

Great commuter though.

 

[UDRider]

Oh hell yes, please! The parts will be worth more then the bike

Great commuter though.

Kool, I'll ping you when I start stripping the bike.
I need to get around building my old frame up too as a spare racing bike, soo lazy!

 

[Sidewalk]

Kool, I'll ping you when I start stripping the bike.
I need to get around building my old frame up too as a spare racing bike, soo lazy!

Cool, thanks. I'll just use the neck shifters this time. I mean, it is just a Cat 5 and my first, not like I am racing my first pro event with the intent on winning cash money

 

[Sidewalk]

I went into a little bit of a panic mode when I realized that I couldn't mix and match the parts I had to make my bike legal for the crit. I ended up finding a couple of 105 shifters (one of which was broken) that I didn't get until last night because apparently when I told the guy on Friday that I could pick them up on my way to work at 11 on Saturday and he said "K", what he really meant was "I won't be there so maybe another time". So he tells me this as I'm on my way there and says I can get them after. Again, I tell him I can be there between 8-8:15 after work and again "k" means "I won't be there". So I did get the levers, luckily the broken one was the left one so I was able to lock the front ring into the largest sprocket and use only the rear. I finished at 1 this morning. So at least for the crit it would work.

So the race went okay. I wad with the lead pack for 20 out of the 30 minutes but I forgot to bring a bottle and was so dehydration that my performance suffered a lot. I got pulled off on the last lap. But I learned a lot. Especially that racing a sprint on a 24 pound bike is hard

 

[aram]

I went into a little bit of a panic mode when I realized that I couldn't mix and match the parts I had to make my bike legal for the crit. I ended up finding a couple of 105 shifters (one of which was broken) that I didn't get until last night because apparently when I told the guy on Friday that I could pick them up on my way to work at 11 on Saturday and he said "K", what he really meant was "I won't be there so maybe another time". So he tells me this as I'm on my way there and says I can get them after. Again, I tell him I can be there between 8-8:15 after work and again "k" means "I won't be there". So I did get the levers, luckily the broken one was the left one so I was able to lock the front ring into the largest sprocket and use only the rear. I finished at 1 this morning. So at least for the crit it would work.

So the race went okay. I wad with the lead pack for 20 out of the 30 minutes but I forgot to bring a bottle and was so dehydration that my performance suffered a lot. I got pulled off on the last lap. But I learned a lot. Especially that racing a sprint on a 24 pound bike is hard

Sounds like you had a good time!

I think I'm going to try racing at the velodrome this week. Finished my beginning sessions so I should be clear to go. I need to figure out the license stuff though.

Oh yeah, I think the best thing about the track is you can use a cheap bike and it doesn't really matter much. I have an awesome bike I bought off barf cheap that was built as a city fixie and I just changed the bars, tires and seat and am using that. Maintenance is put it in the corner after using it. Doesn't even get dirty.

 

[Sidewalk]

If the velodrome wasn't so far I would try it. Of course, finding yet another bicycle for my budget is asking for a lot.

 

[aram]

If the velodrome wasn't so far I would try it. Of course, finding yet another bicycle for my budget is asking for a lot.

Did my first race at Hellyer (or anywhere) last night. It was pretty fun!

A little nerve racking seeing everyone knowing what they're doing and your clueless, but I got to do 3 races and even placed in 2. The velodrome races can be confusing, in the last race I think I was leading the wrong lap so I automatically got 4th place. I should pay attention more. Even in the scratch race I confused which lap was the last. There was a decent turnout and a couple pretty fast guys in the group of beginners (cat 5).

I liked having the really low gearing 43x14 I think? under 80 gear inches. Except when trying to latch onto the back of an attack and furiously spinning. Maybe I'll try a slightly bigger gear next time but I don't know if it will be worse for longer races.

 

[kelsodeez]

i am going to miss the bay area when i move to sac this winter

 

[antidote]

Other than slightly wider temp ranges you won't miss bay area. Tons of great hilly rides out that way.

 

[UDRider]

Other than slightly wider temp ranges you won't miss bay area. Tons of great hilly rides out that way.

Plus wind, lets not forget that.

Shenanigans from last Saturday. Running red lights for the win. arty
[youtube]Go9-pCIOeGg[/youtube]

 

[aram]

Plus wind, lets not forget that.

Shenanigans from last Saturday. Running red lights for the win. arty
[youtube]Go9-pCIOeGg[/youtube]

Looks like an awesome crit! I couldn't read the commentary, just keep bouncing weird with the video though? Looks like you just missed/made some points?

Did the hellyer wed races again. Came in 4th in the omnium CAT5. :/ All points races. There were three really strong guys in the 5 field (collegiate road racers I think) there and I made some silly mistakes (like not watching where I was on the miss and out). Had a good time though and I was a lot better about knowing what was going on during the race (watching for correct points laps and such).

 

[UDRider]

Looks like an awesome crit! I couldn't read the commentary, just keep bouncing weird with the video though? Looks like you just missed/made some points?

Did the hellyer wed races again. Came in 4th in the omnium CAT5. :/ All points races. There were three really strong guys in the 5 field (collegiate road racers I think) there and I made some silly mistakes (like not watching where I was on the miss and out). Had a good time though and I was a lot better about knowing what was going on during the race (watching for correct points laps and such).

The first comment was to point out a huge pile up that was about to happen on the left. Did you see that guy go flying! Second comment was saying I hit something which made my back wheel, front too probably, get some air. You can see me move few feet to the left.

I didn't get any points. I got 11th, which doesn't count towards ten top ten in field 30+, and actual upgrade points stopped at 6th (1 point). Very disappointing.

Congrats on the fourth.

 

[Sidewalk]

Well, I DNF'ed mine, so don't feel too bad

But now that I know to stay up there with the lead pack hopefully it won't happen again. I was trying to hang back a little to watch and learn. Oh, and not to forget my water bottles.

 

[UDRider]

I lost count how many times I got shelled off the back as CAT5.
Oh hell I almost got popped off the back the next day after that race at Berkeley crit. That one was even more brutal then San Rafael.

The key is to be around top ten-fifteen for most of the race. This way you are sheltered from the wind, and don't have to deal with surges as much. At that level 99% of the brakes don't succeed anyway. So it's just wasted effort trying to stay closer or trying to chase them down or bridge to them. Although it is fun.

 

[Sidewalk]

Yeah, I'll definitely try to stay up around that area next time. If I remember right, I'll have to wait until next spring though. Oh well.

Of course, not like I don't have a century, 50k, 140.6, and a 24 hour motorcycle race coming up still...

 

[Akira-R]

I'm selling my bike if anyone is interested. It only have about 500 miles. The front fork was replaced recently under warranty so it has like 20 miles on it.

http://2009.feltracing.com/09-catalog/road/f-series/09-f4-sl.aspx

54" frame

It has the speedplay lollipops as well.

$2100

 

[aram]

Ok, I'm really enjoying the track. One more race and I can upgrade to CAT 4!

Only 3 Cat 5's showed up today so we ran with the CAT 4 group and it was so much more fun than the 5 races. It wasn't just a couple people going off the front, the group actually stayed together. First two races I just missed getting points doing dumb things (lesson: don't pull the field for 2 laps into finals sprint. ) but the last race I eeked out 5th place which felt way better than any points I got in the 5's.

I was thinking of doing the CCCX road race on the 23rd, or maybe try a crit sometime this month. But it seems way more intimidating than the track.