Winter is Coming or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Fall

I came to a realization this past week.  I dug out my warmers, after months of easy wardrobe decisions, of simply throwing bibs and a jersey.  It wasn’t easy.  As I sat, assembling my ensemble for my morning commute, I had to be honest with myself.  This season is in its last throws.  As Ned Stark aptly warned, brace yourselves. Winter is coming. 

You needn’t worry like our friends of Winterfell though.  Luckily, Philadelphia off seasons are manageable—if you have the right equipment.  Like commuting, cold season riding can be miserable or wonderful depending on your preparation.  This week I’ll give you five oft forgotten things to get you through this transition to cold weather. 

Race Day: Control the Chaos

What if I told you that I could make your race day more successful without buying any new components or even training for a minute?  You would probably take heed.  Well let’s take that hypothetical and make it into a reality.  I can make your race day more successful without telling you to buy new wheels or aerobars, or do hill repeats or over gears—despite the fact that I think you should actually do those things.  The thing is, many of you already do those things.  You have made the investment—both monetary and otherwise—in order to prevail on race day.  But there are still so many variables that can trip you up. 

Hill repeats: You should still do them.

Years ago, as an aspiring young classical musician, I would (and still sometimes do) attend masterclasses with some of the greatest players around.  They would all preach different approaches to music making, but when it came to audition day they always had the same advice when it came to the big audition.  Auditioning—or for our purposes today, racing—is all about controlling the things that you can control.  Eliminating variables that are within your reach leaves room for you to focus on the task at hand.  You want, nay, need to be focused on your race.  This means being prepared—in every sense of the word.  Not only in your training, but in every small detail that is so often overlooked. 

So the first step in any race preparation is identifying what is under your control and what is out of your control.  When setting out to prepare for an audition, I like to start with the things I cannot control.  Believe it or not it is a bit therapeutic to literally sit down and write these out.  Things like course design, climate, random mechanical failures, and disastrous acts of God would top this list.  Write out everything that is out of your control.  Now take a look at that list.  It may be pretty long, but here is the thing: you can’t do a thing about anything on that list.  Don’t waste another moment thinking about anything on that list.  If you find yourself worrying over something that you find there, then you are wasting your time and energy.  Don’t do that. 

Sometimes there can be gain without pain.

So now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk about all the little details that you can control, but if left unchecked can derail your race day.  This is by no means an exhaustive list, just enough to get your mind flowing in the right direction. 

Check your fit

The points of contact for any triathlete.  

Fit is one of the most important aspects of riding a bike, yet so many people overlook it.  I won’t even get into the “how-tos” of bike fitting.  That is another topic for another time.  It’s also something that takes a long time to master, so I would highly recommend getting a fit done by a professional.  Come to think of it, I know a pretty good bike shop where they do that kind of thing. 

So now that you’re fit on your bike, it’s crucial that your fit stays where it should.  Your prerace checklist should include checking to make sure that your fit is where it is supposed to be.  Make sure your saddle has not slipped or started to point downwards.  Make sure your handlebars have not been moved or changed. 

Bike fitting can be complicated.  Once you have your pro fit done, make sure it stays where it should.

This is especially important when you have to travel to your race.  Travelling with your bike is not only notoriously difficult and expensive, but it is also ripe for mishaps when it comes to your two wheeled friend.  If you had to pack your bike make sure everything is marked before you disassemble it.  Wrap a piece of electrical tape around your seatpost to mark your saddle height, and if you have to move your handlebars, be sure to mark them so they go back into the exact same spot. Always use a torque wrench if you have any carbon components, and they aren’t a bad idea for aluminum either.  For travel we like these handy CDI wrenches that have present sizes and torque specs.  No adjustment necessary. 

CDI wrenches:  Now available at Cadence

Check your bike

It goes without saying that you should bring your bike in for a pre-race tune up.  DO NOT wait until just before the big day to take care of this.  Give yourself at least a full week between picking up your bike from the shop and race day.  Most shops operate at least 5-10 days out.  Don’t wait until the last moment to schedule your race check—you may be left out of luck.  Make sure that your tires are in immaculate condition.  Worn tires are much more likely to flat.  Check for major gouges or cuts anywhere along the tire.  Make sure your drive train is clean, lubed and adjusted correctly—replace any worn parts—chains, cassettes, etc. 

This tire would not survive a race.

So that is the obvious stuff, but what about immediately prior to your race? Some triathlons require that you put your bike in transition the night before.  Your tires will lose air overnight, so be sure you have the means to re-check those tires prior to your start in the morning.  Tire pressure is vitally important.  Don’t let something as easy as pumping up your tires lead to a flat or a crash.  This is even more important if you race tubulars.  They lose air pressure faster than clinchers, so by morning they could be at a significantly lower psi than where you left them the night before. 

Check yourself

I have a rather embarrassing story to accompany this section.  My first race ever was a local criterium put on by one of our teams, Philadelphia Ciclismo.  Like an idiot, I decided that I needed to stay super hydrated for the race—which is a good thought to have, but how I went about it was, well, not so good.  I proceeded to drink a large bottle of Gatorade before the race even started.  Going into the last corner I was in really good position.  I was thinking, “Wow, I could do okay here.”  Then my stomach—along with that bottle of Gatorade, decided otherwise.  I vomited in the final corner, finishing dead last. 

Race Day is not a day to experiment when it comes to what you eat.  

Other than being brutally embarrassing, but also quite funny, what does this story teach us about race day preparation?  Well race day should not be the day you adopt some kind of drink or meal plan that you haven’t ever had before.  Make sure you sit down with your coach (if you have one) and put together your race day menu to satisfy the calories for whatever race you are doing.  Make sure you try the menu before race day! You want to know exactly how your body will feel after drinking and eating that food. 

So do you feel better now?  Is your mind more at ease?  Thinking about all of the variables of race day shouldn’t make you feel more anxious, it should calm those anxieties.  The more variables you can check off your list, the less you have to stress out about and the more you can concentrate on the task at hand: Not puking in the last corner.  

Tricks of the Trade

There are a lot of bike mechanics in the world.  It’s often a field that is shrouded in a bit of mystery and a whole mess of grumpy dudes.  There seems to be two ways to break into this industry—although I’m not sure “break in” is the right way to say it.  You can either buck up and pay the money to go to a reputable mechanics school, or you can start at the very bottom—sweeping floors—and learn little by little.  I was lucky, in a sense, to happily fall into an invaluable 6+ years of working in shops starting at the ripe old age of 14.  I worked in shops throughout my high school and college years learning bit by bit on all types of two wheeled contraptions.  Twelve years later, I’ve learned the secret signs of an attentive bike mechanic. 

The old-school rules of the bicycle mechanic.  Photo Credit: Philip Gale

Whether you see them or not, I take great care in getting even the smallest of details right—every time.  Now I’m not trying to say that I’m perfect—I know it’s hard to believe, but even I occasionally make a mistake.  These details are often small or even insignificant, but they create a type of secret language between wrenches.  I look at your bike and can tell a great deal about the last mechanic (whether professional or just you in your garage) who last tweaked your ride. 

I’m not trying to indict your local bike shop’s mechanic.  I’m just about to let you in on the secret—show you what pro mechanics look for in other pro mechanics’ work.  Because at a certain point, just getting the gears to shift correctly isn’t enough.  There has to be some extra art to it, an extra challenge to keep you engaged after you have adjusted your 1,000^th front derailleur (although I have to admit that there are still plenty of mechanics out there who have yet to figure out that pesky front derailleur). 

So here is a short list of secret (or not so secret) industry secrets that many pro mechanics religiously adhere to for no good performance reason:

Cables and Housing:

Cables and housing are ripe for detail work—and not difficult to make look good, but so many people just leave them long and sloppy.  It often rather time consuming to shorten cables to their correct and proper length, and outside of aesthetics there is no major functional reason to cut them down—except for the fact that it is not pro. 

Cables should be short and neat.  

Cable ends should be short, but not too short (two finger widths is a good guide) and should be neatly crimped with the correct size cable end.

An unfiled brake housing

Filed brake housing

All brake housing should be filed to a flush end.  This makes braking feel more crisp—or at least that’s what I tell myself when I question why I do it.  It is a detail that is literally buried inside your shifter or a cable ferrule, so pretty much nobody knows or cares whether or not I do it (except me, of course), so I do it every time.  

For really special builds, matching the labels on the cable housing is a nice aesthetic touch.  I don’t do this for everyone though, so if you notice that I did it on your build: consider yourself special. 

Wheels:

Matching labels with the valve: it's pro.

Wheels are another detail that often gets overlooked.  One of the most common pointless mechanical rules is lining up the label of your tire with the valve of the tube.  This is literally the first thing you learn when you start working in a shop—and I have no idea why.  I have heard several far-fetched ideas why, but I don’t buy any of them.  You should do it for the same reason you shave your legs: just because.

Make sure you can read your hub label through your valve hole.

The pointless mechanical rule of wheelbuilding:  You should lace a wheel such that you can read the label on the hub through the valve hole of the rim.  Again, no practical value, but this is how pretty much every professional builds wheels.  It was one of the first tips I received when building my first wheelset. 

Bartape:

Of all the things a mechanic can do to a bike, wrapping bars is my favorite.  It’s not complicated, but it actually takes a fair bit of practice and focus to do exactly right.  Each successive wrap should be even and parallel.  Throw those extra little strips of tape that come in the box away.  If you wrap a tight figure eight pattern around the hoods, they are totally unnecessary and only get in the way.  Finish with neatly done black electrical tape.  A well taped bar should stay tightly wrapped for as long as you need it to. 

A well wrapped bar.

These are just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.  Being a good wrench is more than simply lining up labels.  And I also want to be clear that I’m not trying to say these are sure fire signifiers of quality.  I’m sure there are some pretty great mechanics out there that don’t file their brake housing, and some pretty terrible ones that do, but isn’t it just so much easier to make overly simplified generalizations?  Yeah, I think I’ll stick with that.  So beware.  Next time you see a pro mechanic break one of these sometimes non-sensical rules, grab your bike and run.  They are assuredly about to break it. 

To be fair, these are details that most mechanics are aware of, but occasionally neglect for whatever reason.  Whether these small details are the actual signifiers of a quality mechanic is besides the point.  They are a sign of someone who takes pride in their work.  Taking the extra time to make sure the details are right maybe doesn't gain you any time in a time trial, but it should give you a real sense of pride in the machine you are riding, and surely that is an advantage that is hard to quantify.