The Hardest Hour
Of all of cycling's records, the hour stands apart. We love cycling for the transformative suffering on display ascending amid the majestic ski stations in France. The searing, soul-stealing pain that surely marks each lap of the track during a 60-minute bid for glory occupies a different place in our consciousness. This hour-long contest is the essence of man’s competition against himself. For many of us, our hardest hour is not on the bike. It is a dark place we know better than we think even if we will never, ever wind up a 54x14 on a velodrome with a shot at ...
The Death of Lycra
So last week the Wall Street Journal published a piece on the death of Lycra cycling clothing. As if the use of man-made fibers, clipless pedals and shaved legs was one elaborate fad. Or fraud. The Journal doesn't mind wooing controversy, and this was one of those occasions. The piece, "Cycling's Spandez Coup d'Etat," is a piece of work I honestly would have thought was beneath the publication. Why? Well, it confuses correlation with causation in that there has been an increase of riders not wearing Lycra and Lance Armstrong has fallen from grace. However, Armstrong's fall did not cause people to huck their ...
The Teachable Moment
We're more than a third of the way through the racing season and only last week did we experience what I consider to be a truly important day of bike racing, one worth remembering. The race in question was stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California. A few different things happened that day, notable things, things that might teach us a lesson or two. The first detail from the stage worth recalling was that a group of riders went to the front and waited, waited for a stiff headwind to shift to a crosswind. And when the turn came that ...
The McQuaid Problem
Pat McQuaid has secured nomination for a third term as the president of the UCI. It is McQuaid's most selfish, telling act since Floyd Landis elected to detonate the façade of legitimacy laid over the U.S. Postal Service Cycling Team. We've seen clearly in the past that McQuaid has really only cared about the truth when it serves to protect his role as UCI president. I had held out the hope that maybe if the Irish cycling federation listened to the worldwide cry to give McQuaid a retirement watch and chose not to nominate him for a third term, that ...
Gran Fondo NY 2012: I Know It When I See It
My choice for doing GFNY was heavy on novelty, light on challenge. No idea what to expect, would it seem like a race, a group ride, a tour, an 'athon? There was the challenge component to it. Of course, doing well is something, and winning would be nice, but it wasn't a reason for participating. Looking at the numbers, it seems that novelty and tourism were high on the list of reasons to come. According to the promoter, there were 5,000 registered riders. Of that, 20% were from outside the United States, and 50% of the foreigners, or 10% of the ...
An Evolution in Fit
I've been fit by more alleged "masters" of the bicycle fitting process than I care to remember. What I'm even less interested in recalling are the specifics of some of those fits. I'd prefer not to have had the journey, but along the way, I've seen—and learned—a lot. One Italian frame builder took three measurements of me while I was in a cotton shirt and chinos as I stood in his booth at a trade show. Net result: The bike was gorgeous, handled like water flowing through a pipe and was at least one centimeter too big, and that left me ...
Body
The Hardest Hour
Of all of cycling’s records, the hour stands apart. We love cycling for the...
The Death of Lycra
So last week the Wall Street Journal published a piece on the death of Lycra cycling...
The Teachable Moment
We’re more than a third of the way through the racing season and only last...
The McQuaid Problem
Pat McQuaid has secured nomination for a third term as the president of the UCI....
Gran Fondo NY 2012: I Know It When I See It
My choice for doing GFNY was heavy on novelty, light on challenge. No idea what...
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Live Updates: 2013 Giro d’Italia – Stage 18 – Mori to Polsa, 20.8km (ITT)
2013 Giro D’ Italia – Stage 17 – Caravaggio to Vicenza, 214km
Live Coverage: 2013 Giro d’Italia – Stage 16 – Valloire to Ivrea, 238km
Live Updates: 2013 Giro D’ Italia – Stage 15 – Cesana Torinese to Col du Galibier, 145km
Live Coverage: 2013 Giro d’Italia – Stage 14 – Cervere to Bardonecchia, 168km
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Machine
Friday Group Ride #167
I will endeavor over the following paragraphs to make no butt jokes, employ no puerile double entendre, and avoid, at all costs, referencing parts of the human anatomy I have barred my young sons from mentioning at the dinner table. We have over recent weeks been discussing product preferences for such crucial gear as helmets and gloves, and you, our... [Read more of this review]
Ritchey WCS Echelon Pedals
In my experience, more than any other component found on a bicycle, pedals elicit a near-religious loyalty among users. It may be that because cleat design will remain static to a degree that even the number of cogs on a cassette will not, people have more years of use on a system and are more likely to develop less a preference than an accustom. We... [Read more of this review]
Friday Group Ride #166
Oh, man. When I brought up helmets last week, I had this sneaking suspicion it was a better conversation starter than the Giro d’Italia, though in years past I know we would have turned the Giro over and over like a favorite record. 50 comments later, I think we covered helmets pretty well. In midweek, Padraig reviewed a new pair of gloves, and... [Read more of this review]
Road Holland Arnhem Jersey
The long-sleeve jersey is an item that wasn’t represented in my wardrobe for a great many years. There was a simple reason why: Fit. Most of them fit me like a burlap sack. Now, a burlap sack is fine if you plan to take 50 pounds of potatoes to the farmer’s market, but even for a cyclist who was only marginally picky about fit, that wasn’t... [Read more of this review]
Assos longSummerGloves
I’ve written previously about how life in the South Bay of Southern California means that I spend at least eight months of each year in arm warmers. I go through a lot of embro as well. I’m also, eternally, on the lookout for lightweight long-finger gloves. That is, a long-finger glove that is warm, but not too warm. For me, I tend to put... [Read more of this review]
iJ.intermediate_s7
There are times when I notice that what I feel for Assos is also what I feel for my son Philip. Yes, there’s the incandescent affection that can cause me to smile at the simple utterance of his, or their, name. But there’s also cross-eyed frustration that comes when you simply want your kid to stop moving. Not only have I said through gritted... [Read more of this review]
Cannondale Teramo Helmet
Take a moment to look at the object above. Really look at it. If you weren’t already a dedicated cyclist, what would you guess that was? I can say that I would guess that it was a souvenir replica of some sort of head gear from a first-person-shooter video game. It would be right at home on an alien in Halo. Falling back on my trained experience... [Read more of this review]
Rapha Sky Kit
I need to be honest. I haven’t worn the kit from a team I wasn’t a member of in probably 15 years. Before I moved to Southern California, I and all of my friends wore any jersey or kit we thought was cool. I had team jerseys from PDM, Z, Gatorade-Chateau d’Ax and even a replica Banania-sponsored maillot jaune like Greg LeMond wore... [Read more of this review]
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