Turkey Cross Weekend

Despite a minor setback, Turkey Cross weekend was a blast. Cross season has been super-fun so far and I am continually impressed with the race organization and race venues here in Boise. I believe there were 96 racers in attendance Saturday so I am not the only one feeling the cross stoke.

Rewind to 11:59 AM on Saturday morning. I was staged at the start with my fellow 35+ Masters Racers and ready for the one hour of glorious suffering that was about to commence. The Men’s Cat I/IIs would go first, and then the Men’s Cat IIIs and then a 30” stagger before the Masters. Finally the race official turned us loose and I actually had a descent start for a change. We powered up the pavement and jockeyed for position before having to slow down to enter the first tricky turn on the grass which forced the field into a single line of riders. I was sitting comfortably in the middle and we were all wheel-to-wheel as we ripped through the opening twisty grass section…until I went down. It was a silly fall. I simply lost my front wheel in a 180 degree grassy right-hander and I went down on my right side in an instant. I heard the “snap” when I hit the ground and when I scrambled up quickly to remount and continue I noticed a piece of my right shifter fall out and land on the ground. Yep, I broke another SRAM Red shifter. Un-Friggin’-Believable. My race was over in 4’.

I have crashed twice this season, both on grassy corners, and I have broken two SRAM Red Shifters (a left and a right):

Should a slow-motion crash on soft grass do this much damage? I realize that I crashed, and when you crash you stand to break things, but really?

The broken lever and the piece that fell out onto the grass. Oops.

Did SRAM shave too much material out of the shifter body in their quest to be the lightest?

The lever body looks like Swiss Cheese on the inside

Did SRAM get a bad batch of molded plastic shift bodies (because they sure seem brittle)?

Does the outward angle of their lever design promote breakage because it is the first piece of the bike to hit the ground?

You can see how the end of the shift lever would be the first thing to hit the ground in a fall to the side

Is it simply bad luck?

For Sunday’s race, I mounted a pair of Vittoria XG TNT tires on my Scott Scale29 and I was back in business. The Scale29 makes a great substitute cross bike… what I am trying to say is that my result on Sunday had nothing to do with the bike and everything to do with the engine. My fellow 35+ racers are fast and they are rude. Yes, I said rude. I say they are rude due to the way they rode off and left me to ride alone in no-man’s land for much of the race. That is just not polite at all.

The weekend still had a couple of highlights. One highlight was hanging with Gabe and watching him take 3rd in the Men’s Cat III races each day. Fiddee Cent made the trip from snowy Jackson, WY to get his “cross” on and get a little taste of Boise. Gabe’s weekend totals: Two Cat III podiums, a delicious burger & beers at BitterCreek Ale House, a short mountain bike ride Sunday afternoon, and a huge breakfast burrito at Big City Coffee…I’d say Gabe had a pretty darn good Boise weekend.

Fiddee Cent might be the only gansta' in the world to ride tubulars and use embrocation

The other highlight was watching my little buddy “H” finish the kid’s race on Sunday despite going down in the first corner and shedding a few tears before remounting and finishing strong like a true hard-man of cycling. Nice work Henry!

Henry and I discussing race strategy during his warmup

This weekend is Eagle Island Cyclocross, Race #3. Hup Hup!

More Cross Bike Tech

My close friends know that I can't jump into anything halfway and so during my first season of cross racing I have made it a point to learn about what pieces makes up a good cross bike.

In my mind, the three key pieces are crisp shifting, reliable braking, and the delicate balance between rolling resistance and traction.

For someone starting from scratch, the "Easy Button" is to purchase one of the of very nice complete cross bikes being offered by Jamis, Cannondale, or Kona. No worries about gearing or compatibility because it comes out of the box ready to rock. Done.

The Jamis Super Nova is a sweet bike

If you are like me, and already have some parts to contribute, you may want to buy a frame and build it up from scratch and this is when you will realize that there are not a ton of options for cross-specific cranksets outside of FSA.

GEARING
Being a Campy fan, I decided to try and use a Campy Centaur Compact crankset thinking I could simply buy a set of 110 BCD (industry standard) Specialites TA chainrings in 36/46 gearing and be done with it.

Do NOT try to dremmel your new chain rings!

When my rings showed up I was surprised to see that the bolt holes didn't perfectly line up with my Campy CT crank arms. Fack! So out comes the dremmel tool and I proceed to ruin a perfectly good set of chain rings in an effort to go "custom". Evidently Campy decided to ignore the 110 BCD standard and 4 out of 5 holes on their CT cranks are at 110 BCD while the 5th hole is at 112/113. WTF!

Compact Crank Options
SRAM - 110 BCD
FSA - 110 BCD (available in 36/46)
Truvativ - 110 BCD
Shimano - 110 BCD
Campy - 110/112 BCD

I ended up pulling the Campy standard crank off of my road bike since 42T rings are easy to find in 135 BCD and now I am running the sinlge 42T ring with a light bashguard. Having recently ridden a bike with the SRAM Force shifter, I am glad that I stuck with Campy for its crisp, positive rear shifts.

BRAKES
Setting up cantilever brakes is part science and part voodoo. They never seem to be "perfect" and there is always some variable to address which bugs the shit out of me. Squeal, chatter, and clearance all seem to be moving targets.

TRP Eurox Mags, 103 Grams per wheel and dead sexy - $299

I opted for the economical and perfectly functional Tektro CR 720s. Although boring looking, I really can't say anything bad about them.

Tektro CR 720, 161 Grams per wheel and boring - $59

At least I got the tire & whhel thing right on the first try. My MC-built, Stans 355 wheelset, one scoop of Stans goo, and Hutchinson Tubeless Ready cross tires are also like the "Easy Button". I have been able to run low PSI and have had no flats. (knock on wood) Stan's Raven CX tires look promising too.

42, Single, and Ready To Mingle

Tuesday is a little early to be talking trash before a big double-header race weekend...but Bergy & Fitzy should be a little scared right about now.

42 Teeth. So sexy.

A little Cross Tech

After Saturday's race Fitzy and Bergy were heckling me about the weight of my Salsa La Cruz steel cross bike. I originally built this bike to be a crappy weather training bike that I could ride on and off of the pavement and it is perfect for that. But at 22.5 lbs, it is a bit of a tank to hoist over the barriers and carry up the run-ups.

Bergy offered me a test-ride on his new Salsa scandium Chili Con Cross and since we are close to the same size I took him up on it. But before I rode it I took some measurements and had to weigh it. I really shouldn't have done that. 17.94 lbs... Doh!

Bergy's new hotness

In cross, low PSI is your friend so Stans rims + sealant make perfect sense if you don't want to mess with tubulars. The wider profile of the Stans 355 rim compared to your average road rim spreads the tire out and decreases your chancs of rolling it off of the rim at lower pressure. Plus, chaning tires is easy. I am a bike geek but the thought of spending multiple days to glue up a set of tubulars does not appeal to me.

Craftsman 19.2 Volt Cordless Inflator

This bad boy is on sale for $36.99 at Sears.com right now. I cut the stock pump head off and clamped a new Silca presta pump head on. The coolest thing about this tool is that you can set the max PSI and the inflator shuts off when it reaches that PSI.