Le Grande Boucle

So here we are.  In less than 24 hours, the most important race in cycling will roll from Porto Vecchio with eyes on Paris. Almost four hundred eyes will fix similarly, with flashes of yellow, green, polka dots, or solo flyers for epic stage wins filling their dreams tonight—that is, if they can find a way shut for some much needed sleep. This is the Tour de France.  No one rides the Tour de France for training.  Le Grande Boucle sits atop almost any aspiring cyclist’s wish list.  It is cycling. 

The gateway drug for any fan of bike racing, this race stops the world in its tracks and captures its attention.  Not just the pinnacle of cycling, the Tour de France sits upon a high pedestal for all sport.  This year is particularly important, being the 100^th edition of the race.  But what makes le Tour so special? Why has it transcended cycling into the sports mainstream?  There are harder, longer, tougher races.  There are races that punish, humble, or even crush the strongest riders on earth more than the Tour. Why exactly is the Tour so special?

Community Breeds Culture

There is strength in numbers.  All over society you can see examples of it.  Come to think of it, society itself bears out a whole being greater than the sum of its parts.  In cycling, the peloton—or group ride—is the perfect metaphor for this phenomenon.  The group operates at a level that is unachievable through an individual effort. 

There is probably no better week to talk about cultivating cycling culture than the week of the Philadelphia Bike Race.  Over the years it has known many names, but this year it has started a new, with fresh race organization and sponsorship.  It is a true showcase for our city and its cycling community.  Cycling will be more visible to the “others” (aka non-cyclists) in Philadelphia this weekend more than any other weekend of the year.    

Customer Bicycle Spotlight: Serotta Meivici Limited Edition No. 15 of 21

A Little Spring Cleaning: A Simple Guide a Spotless Bike

Spring sprang a couple weeks back. The occasional April shower is going about bringing the random May flower, and as such, the shop is brimming with bikes rescued from a winter of non-use. We’re busy and it feels good.  With all of this repair work though, I have become increasingly aware of an epidemic in cycling.  One that should be taken care of—nipped in the butt, as it were, before our city’s mechanics are sent to therapy, driven to the brink by the endless stream of sugar coated tri-spaceships, muck-covered MTBs, and road bikes covered in some kind of black road sludge I don’t even want to talk about.  Clean your bikes! There was a time when a clean, well-maintained bicycle wasn’t a rare bird, but a badge of honor that most would be embarrassed to be without. 

Maybe it’s our fault.  Maybe the bike mechanics of the world haven’t done a good job explaining it to people.  Well if that is the case let me be clear beyond any doubt: Keeping your bike clean is the single most important thing you can do in maintaining your ride.  So many issues—from slow shifting or bad bearings to creaks and rusted cables—can be wholly avoided by keeping your bike clean and dry.  It’s not hard.  It doesn’t take any special tools.  It doesn’t take any special skills—in fact, if you can operate a spray bottle and move your hands back and forth in a basic wiping motion, then I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you would probably make a good bike cleaner. 

So that’s our soup de jour: Dirt, mud, sports drink, and road grime and how to rid your ride of them. 

The Rite of Spring

Click…chunk. Click…chunk.  I grab two gears and stand on my pedals.  My bike lurches forward under me as I crawl up my favorite wooded climb.  Rose Glen road is in some other reality.  One where civilizations don’t exist—as if everyone lived in old field stone houses situated on wooded lots with clear cold creeks running through their yards.  Small stone walls border each driveway—built from the same stones that support the roof of the house that sits fifty yards from the freshly paved road under my tires.  It’s brisk.  The sun shows through the still bare trees and every couple pedal strokes it shines warm on my covered arms. 

Rose Glen is in another world, but it couldn't be more than two miles from the doors of our shop.   We all ride here on our too-short breaks from our too-busy lives for exactly one mile of another world.  It’s a nice effort, but not one you can’t slog up if your legs are feeling too heavy.  Mine don’t feel heavy today though.  I wind up along the wooded road just a mile, and then back down into the small valley that flanks the river on both sides, only to climb out again. 

A Real Sagan vs. Merckx Comparison

It has been an exciting spring.  The early classics have been marked by unpredictable weather and unpredictable racing.  The clear headline story, though, has been the ascension of Peter Sagan to the darling of the cycling media.  This is not without good cause, as his performances in huge races have been great.  I cannot help but be a little annoyed at just how quick we are to anoint Sagan as the greatest rider since sliced bread.  He is impressive, young, and full of potential that he is beginning to fulfill—but if we are being objective, he is not even the best classics rider currently in the peloton. 

This lack of perspective, has even led to what I would call ridiculous comparisons between Peter Sagan and Eddy Merckx.  Now I’m no stranger to sports media hyperbole, but I have a hard time even putting Sagan in the same sentence as Merckx.  This is no dig against Sagan.  I just think we have lost perspective on just how unmatched Merckx was, and probably ever will be, in his accomplishments.  So here is a healthy dose of perspective on the company in which you are putting Sagan, when you claim he is, “the next Merckx.”

A Short History of the Longest Day of the Year

Popular logic says that the longest day of the year falls on the summer solstice.  In 2013, that happens to fall in late June—the 21^st, to be specific.  But the longest single day for a cyclist comes this weekend; the professional peloton will depart from Italy’s cultural center, Milan, heading south-west towards a city situated on the Mediterranean coast, just across the French border from Nice.  It doesn’t seem like an insane distance to travel in a day—especially by train or car.  This is no car race though.  The peloton will travel via bicycle—which should have been obvious to you—not as the crow flies, or even the most efficient paved route, but rather nearly 300kms at race pace to San Remo. 

Merckx

Let me give you a second for that to sink in…

It's Time to Get Pumped About the Classics

This past weekend saw the kick-off of 2013’s spring classics campaign with the running of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.  The longstanding kickoff of the cobbled classics is usually the first half of a weekend double with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, but the later was cancelled due to an overnight snowstorm.  The right call without a doubt, but it points to the extremely unpredictable nature of racing in the north of Europe in spring.  That specifically makes the spring classics such a special time of year.  There is no telling what can happen—due to weather or simply bad luck—in these monuments of the cycling calendar.

A race like the Omloop is a semi-classic and won’t make or break a career, but it is surely a gauge of early season fitness and a stage for up-and-comers to make their mark on the cobbled calendar. The biggest thing for me, though, is simply that it means the classics are upon us. That gets me going.  So today I put together a veritable smorgasbord of images to get you psyched for the classics that are coming.  Some classic, some recent, these images should get your blood pumping for the races that are just around the corner.  

Mark D'Avino at Cross-Worlds

This blog, believe or not, doesn't really have a large travel budget.  By not large, I mean that it doesn't have one at all.  I lucked out though.  Cadence's newest killer mechanic, Mark D'Avino, decided to head to cross worlds on his own dime to take in the event as a rabid fan and amateur cross racer.  I asked Mark to pretend Off the Rivet was his post race psychiatrist and lie down and talk about his feelings about what he saw on that snowy day in Louisville.  This is what he gave me, stellar stuff:

"Deciding to travel to Louisville, Kentucky for the first UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships ever held in the U.S. is one of the best decisions I will ever make as a cycling fan. The streets of this seemingly quiet mid-western city came alive with cycling’s global culture. For those of you unfamiliar with cyclo-cross, quite simply, the Belgians rule the sport. Both on the track and off, they came to Louisville in full force. 

The Hardest Month

February is the hardest month.  It is about survival.  The brittle cold wind whips against the faces of cyclists as they suffer to turn over the pedals.  There is a still warm bed they left, for what?  They left for the coming spring and summer, but certainly not for February. 

February is the hardest month, so it was shortened.  No one could stand the extra days, so they did away with them, leaving the bare minimum.  Four weeks of windswept rain and freezing fingers is all anyone could stand, so that calendar was truncated—the extra days would be slipped in elsewhere.  Every four years February is even harder.  The suffering gloom and gray stays for a day further.  March is denied to us for an additional 24 hours.

 

What to Watch Out for in 2013: Part 2, Your guide to tech...

The cycling industry is being turned up to 11.  Every major component manufacturer has now released or will be releasing an 11 speed group. For 2013, this is the story to watch.  Compatibility issues will abound as riders scramble to get the latest and greatest.  Have no worry though, these upgrades are worth the trouble, as every new 11 speed set up I have come into contact with has been stellar.

What to Watch Out for in 2013: Part 1

2013 is shaping up to be quite a year in cycling and endurance sports.  There are no shortages of great story lines, product releases, and epic races poised to play out while we all watch.  Believe it or not, early season racing is already getting started down under, and the pedal-to-the-metal mud-fests that are cyclocross are about to culminate at a fever pitch in the next few weeks.  A 2013 Buyer’s Guide from Velonews arrived this weekend at the shop, a harbinger of all the great tech innovations this year will offer.  So divide and conquer we must.  There is simply too much to cover in one epic post.  We’ll start with the race calendar. 

2012: The Year When the World Didn't End

A little more than a year ago, I took over this blog.  Admittedly, I didn’t really fully understand what I was getting myself into.  I had no idea what it was like to create content on a regular basis, even if it is only once a week.  Once a week can be trying when you are also wrenching full time, in addition to juggling a professional freelance career in the amazingly robust world of professional tuba playing.  That being said, it was a great year and I had more fun than I anticipated writing Off the Rivet. 

The Olympic Games: One of the highlights of 2012

For 2013 I am working on trying to expand Off the Rivet even more, with additional contributions from the rest of Cadence’s expert staff, as well as a more diverse look into every aspect of the sports we love.  Before I start off down that road, though, I want to pause for a minute to review the year that was 2012—what a year it was!

Beware of Your Winter Wears...

Winter riding can be a love/hate endeavor. Beautiful landscapes often make winter riding a joy. The desolate look of winter provides an amazing backdrop for any cold weather ride and surely keeps me coming back for more. But winter riding is not all barren trees and snow-lined winding country roads. There is all that damn clothing.

Dressing for winter can be a real drag. Finding the exact right balance of warmth, breathability, and wind or water protection can sometimes seem like a Rubik’s cube with no solution. Overdressing or under-dressing can be equally devastating to your winter miles. So here is my winter what-to-wear guide, a step-by-step (or more accurately, layer-by-layer) guide to staying comfortable throughout Philadelphia’s toughest months. 

Failure by Another Name

Cycling is a sport filled with failure.  Out of countless entries, only a single rider wins—sometimes by nothing more than the width of a tire. And while second place gets to stand on the podium, there is an emotional chasm the size of the Grand Canyon between winning and second place. Just ask whoever was second place in last year’s Paris Roubaix, uhhhhh… Oh I guess I can’t recall. What is more telling than that?  I am an avid cycling fan, and Paris Roubaix could be my favorite race of the year, and I can’t remember, without significant mental difficulty, who got second. 

Does anyone remember the podium from important races?

So why do we keep going? Why keep competing if the odds are so not in your favor? Arguably an athlete could do everything right in their training, preparation, mental preparation, and race strategy and still never win a race. So how do we deal with this? How do we cope with constantly losing, getting dropped, and bonking? Well I’m not sure. If I knew, I would probably be some kind famous sports psychologist.

Wrap Like a Pro: A Simple Step by Step Guide to Bar Tape

I’ve heard that a pro mechanic’s best way to lift the spirits of riders before a difficult stage is fresh white bar tape. It’s a confidence booster. Fresh white tape just looks clean and fresh, and can make your legs feel the same. 

Bar tape is one of those things—one of those mystical things on a bike that go just a bit beyond their utilitarian purpose. There is a touch of magic in that ribbon that is wrapped around your bars. Some people might just look at it like something to cover your cables, but I believe it is an essential point of style and soul for a bicycle.  Whether authentic leather, soft cork, old-school fabric, or a cutting edge synthetic material, your tape speaks about you as a cyclist and your axe. Take pride.

So how exactly do you make sure that your tape looks as pro as your shaved legs and tall socks? Here’s how:

The Art of Transition: A Triathelete's Source for Free Time

Triathlon is a struggle of seconds. Many of you reading this probably devote hours, early mornings, and countless calories towards becoming just a few seconds faster. So it stands to reason that an opportunity to save minutes would suit most any triathlete’s fancy. When I asked my colleague and pro triathlete, Jack Bracconier, what I could do with this blog to help make my multisport readers faster, he did not hesitate to say transition. 

Jack Bracconier gives us his personal take on transition.

 So many athletes, of every ilk or specialty, myself included, train incredibly hard only to overlook simple logistical factors that can really affect their race results. Transition is a major logistical detail for multisport athletes, and is an area of the race often ripe for improvement. These improvements can save minutes without hours of training; just a well thought out approach and a little practice can change your transitions from a weakness to a strength—an opportunity to gain significant time on those who choose to leave transition as an afterthought. 

The Wilier Zero.7: Everyone should want it, only a lucky few can have it.

Wilier does not create bikes for everyone. They are not Trek. They are not Specialized. Wilier bikes are not designed for the masses. They are not the Olive Garden, they are La Pergola—a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Rome. They create bikes for people with discerning taste, for people who appreciate a race bike as art, as well as a performance machine.  Style and tradition share equal importance with performance and innovation in Wilier’s design strategy.  The two sides complement each other in their bikes, each side feeding off the other, pushing innovations in performance and style to their absolute pinnacle. 

Italian design and style.

The Wilier Zero.7 perches comfortably atop this pinnacle. The new quintessential Italian racing machine, the Zero.7 offers riders a world without compromise, striking a lovely balance between performance and comfort. No more are people forced to choose between a brittle, brassy, race machine and a sluggish, soft, long-haul rouleur. Wilier found a way, though proprietary carbon design technology, to offer both sides without compromise.

One Speed to Rule Them All

There are times when I thrive on the forward thrust of the bicycling industry.  It has a collective sense of constant momentum that can be inspiring.  Many times, it feels good to be a part of that.  But just as often, I find myself moving back towards the great simplicity a bicycle can provide.  The biggest R&D budget in the world can’t buy the repetitious circles carved out at a varying cadence over miles and miles.  Riding is more than just being the fittest and fastest.  Sometimes the simple act of pedaling gives you so much more. 

That brisk feeling on my way to the trails while wondering if I have overdressed for the first cold weather ride of the year.  The latest and greatest this forward-looking industry produces cannot give you that feeling.  Simply riding does. 

I always try to keep myself grounded in that way—constantly striving to remind myself why it is I ride a bike.  So often stripping away all of the extracurricular accoutrements makes me feel closer to knowing exactly what it is that gets me out of a warm bed in the morning to suffer. 

It was with this idea in mind—and light pocketbook in hand—that I set out to build my newest MTB: a singlespeed Cannondale Trail SL 29’r with many a modification.  The best part of a singlespeed is that it is not a huge commitment.  This one, as it comes from Cannondale (before my extras) comes in under $1,000, which seems to be an increasingly rare feat in the performance bicycle world these days. 

Riding a mountain bike is an activity that sells itself, and riding a singlespeed, while daunting at first, can be a joy for anyone who sticks with it.  I won’t muddy this up with my words—rather I will just show you the build and let you appreciate it for what it is: a simple machine that I love to ride.  

Check it out:

Don't Let Sandy Rain on Your Training: A Core Circuit for Rainy Days

I can’t think of an athlete that doesn’t benefit from a strong core.  Let me take that one step further: I can’t think of a living human being that wouldn’t benefit from having a strong core.  Core strength affects everything from your posture to chronic back problems.  For cyclists, triathletes, and runners core strength is crucial to our training.  Many cyclists make the mistake of thinking that riding a bike is an endeavor reserved only for our lower extremities—not so. 

Ever had back, shoulder, or neck pains after a long ride or run?  It could be your core telling you you’ve got some work to do. 

So as I sit here stranded inside waiting out the behemoth that is the FrankenSandyApocolyptic Hurricane of 2012, I am not letting this day indoors ruin my training schedule.  My coach, Michael Gibbons of Walton Endurance, sent me a core workout for today that requires little or no equipment, and will provide a gut/hurricane-busting workout all without having to leave The Weather Channel’s coverage of all the carnage. 

I can't say for sure, but I don't think this is real footage of Sandy.

A perfect remedy for a state-of-emergency induced day indoors, this workout is an advanced one, but can be tempered to fit anyone’s ability level.  Doing any of these exercises without a stability ball makes them easier for beginners, so adjust as you see necessary.