Going Home

I’m gonna hijack the beginning of this post to take care of some business.  It came to my attention recently that the comment button down at the bottom of Off the Rivet posts was broken.  I sent a small team of gnomes into the internet tubes to address the problem.  I just got word that the comment button has been fixed and only a couple of the gnomes were seriously disfigured in the process.  All in all, a fair price for a working comment button.  So comment away.  I really love hearing from my readers, so don’t hesitate to share your thoughts on the topics or how I’m doing—or even my grammar if you are so inclined.  I am already aware, however, of my gratuitous overuse of the Em dash—so leave that criticism out of the comments please.  Finally, if for some reason the comment thing at the bottom of the post still doesn’t work, then send me an email at sdevereaux@cadencecycling.com and I will do my best to rectify the situation.  Happy reading!

Working in retail doesn’t afford me much time for vacations, but last week I was lucky enough to get some time to travel back to Michigan, where I spent the first 22 years of my life, to see my family and meet my new nephew, Levi.  After driving ten hours across the entirety of Pennsylvania, most of Ohio, and a couple hours in Michigan for good measure, I was able to relax into the couch in the house where I spent my formative years. 

Found on: http://youmeandcharlie.com/

I made a point, when I had a moment to spare from the chaos that is “going home” for what can only loosely be described as a “vacation,” to snoop into our shed behind our house.  Trips home, for me anyway, are always laced with nostalgia, and our shed had no shortage of items that all seemed to be the quintessential synecdoche for my childhood.  I used to spend a lot of time here.  Haphazardly fixing my own bike, or helping my dad work on our family’s many motorcycles—this is where I cut my mechanical teeth.  Rebuilding whatever needed rebuilding, my dad showed my older brother and me how to turn a wrench.  The tools are waiting for my brother and I to embark upon our next project—which is difficult considering the 750 miles that exist between our daily lives.  My dad, having passed in 2006, seemed like the one who always finalized the plans for our riding trips, and the rest of us having grown up and moved out in the mean time—life always intervening, as it is wont to do—the motorcycles haven’t been used much lately.

What You (may have) Missed at the Olympics

It frustrates me when great opportunities are wasted—whatever the circumstances.  I’m frustrated with the Olympics.  That is, I’m frustrated with the Olympics and the way they are covered.  NBC has at its disposal what is, for all intents and purposes, a completely captive audience and yet they still find a way to make the coverage disappointing.  The only things that save this collection of events as a whole are the athletes themselves.  Their performances are extraordinary.  So we watch, riveted by things that we can only dream of doing.

But the Olympics, in my opinion, are an opportunity wasted.  Here is a stage, larger than any other, for the entire world’s peripheral sports, and they still find a way to make them seem peripheral still.  Never ending coverage of sports that don’t need never ending coverage (E.g. live coverage of nearly every water polo and indoor volleyball match), while giving little to no coverage of other sports (E.g.  The amazing drama at the Olympic velodrome got very little coverage) just makes the whole of the experience boring.  I realize that there was more complete coverage online, but let’s not pretend that what is on TV doesn’t get watched the most. 

I spent last week on vacation in Michigan visiting family, so I had some time to scour the TV airwaves for coverage of my beloved cycling events and was left wanting.  After some digging online, I found coverage and complete replays of pretty much any event you could want to watch, which is great.  NBC certainly doesn’t do a great job of bringing these sports to the public eye though. You have to search for them yourself.  This makes zero sense to me.  NBC just invested in airing the Tour de France for quite a few years to come, and they have become a leader in coverage of many other races as well as multisport events.  Why then, is there no primetime cycling or triathlon coverage?  You would think they would want to build those sports in which they have invested. But no, it seemed like try as I might, I couldn't be so lucky to see cycling coverage on any major network.  Maybe I just missed the short segments where cycling aired, but I certainly didn't have any trouble finding water polo coverage.

So this week I’ll do some of their leg work.  Here are links to all the cycling and multisport coverage you can handle—though I think they make you log in to watch it, which is another issue I won’t even get into.

(click on the pics for links)

 

  

Anna Meares upset the hometown favorite Victoria Pendleton in the Women's Sprint finals.  During a week of utter British domination at the velodrome.  This was a bright spot for the Aussies, who came into the games with high hopes.  

GB's Jason Kenny upset the French champion Gregory Bauge in the Men's Sprint Final.  This race was plenty exciting.  Well worth watching.  

Chris Hoy was the overwhelming favorite for the Men's Keirin and he delivered.  This is always one of my favorite track events to watch.  There is much to be learned here for sprint positioning and tactics...

It's safe to say that Bradley Wiggins is having one of the best seasons in the history of cycling.  His latest win was in dominant fashion in the Men's Individual Time Trial.  

The Brownlee Brothers took two medals in this Olympics--Gold and Bronze.  Another dominant British performance for sure.  Do you notice a pattern?

The team sprint means one thing: Speed.  This Olympic's winners averaged over 63Kph over 3 laps of the velodrome (that's about 40 mph if you're wondering...).  I bet you can't guess who won.

There is still so much activity on the track and out on the road that I am leaving out.  Check out the NBC sports website and dig around.  There is a lot of great coverage in there.  I just wish they did a better job of plugging sports other than Gymnastics, Swimming or Basketball.  Oh well, there's always next year....Oh, wait.  

 

Making Cents of Commuting

Without a doubt, Americans could stand to lose a few pounds.  I’m sure you also wouldn’t mind saving some cash right?  No, it’s not too good to be true.  I have a way for you to lose weight and save money at the same time.  And it doesn’t involve taking pills—or at least it isn’t supposed to.  It involves pedaling, which, if you are reading this blog, you probably are already into. 

I’m talking about commuting to work.  I’m not talking about ditching your car, or adopting some crazy pedal-centric lifestyle.  I’m just talking about riding a bike to work instead of driving.  I’m about to break it down.  Commuting by bike is healthier, cheaper, more efficient, and many times, faster. 

Let’s take a second to set the scene.  For the sake of the calculations I’m about to lay out for you, we need to establish a couple things.  A gallon of gas contains about 31,000 calories.  For the sake of easy calculations, we will assume that the car that you drive gets 31 MPG—which seems like a fair average, considering some cars get much less.  We are also going to assume a moderate length commute.  10 miles sounds about right.  My commute to Cadence everyday is exactly 10 miles, a mix of both city and freeway driving, and the bike route I take is exactly the same length—making it a perfect example for comparison.

I realize that there are a whole lot of variables at work here, so bear with me.  In order to illustrate my point I’m going to make a bit of generalizing and assuming—not something I’m usually a fan of, but sometimes it just can’t be avoided. 

Your Wallet

We are going to compare riding to driving in a couple different categories, the first being cost. Obviously both bikes and cars come in many different shapes and sizes, so let’s set up a hypothetical situation and flush out the details.  I’m will set this up like your standard middle school story problem, because I know how much everybody loves them. 

Gertrude, our driving guinea pig, buys a car to drive to her new job.  She spends a modest $18,000 on a nice compact that magically gets 31 MPG wherever she goes, and she also managed to get a dealership to finance the cost at 0% interest over 5 years (this is a bike blog, not a math blog.  I’m making this easy on myself).  So that makes her car payment exactly $300 a month.  The car has a 15 gallon gas tank, so at current gas prices of about $3.25 (where does she find these amazing deals?!?) it costs $48.75 to fill her tank.  With a 15 gallon tank, she would have to fill her tank only once a month.  Not too shabby.  

Conservative estimates for both insurance ($40/month) and general maintenance and depreciation ($110/month), brings us to roughly $500 a month total cost for our dear Gertrude to get to work. 

Myrtle, Gertrude’s twin sister, has also gotten a new job, which is the exact same distance from home as Gertrude’s.  She, however, has decided to buy a really kick-ass commuter bike to ride to work.  She also found a magical bike shop that finances bikes for 5 years at no interest (even Cadence is not that good).  She decided to really go all out and buy her dream bike for $2400.  That some serious commuter wheels.  With a whopping fuel cost of $0 and insurance also breaking the bank at $0, she pays $40 a month over 5 years.  If she maintains her bike properly, that breaks down to a cost of about $30 a month.  So $70 a month is the total cost to ride her bike.  

So that’s a $430 difference a month.  I don’t know about you, but I could really use an extra $430 a month.  And if you were wondering, that’s over $5,000 a year. 

Sidenote:  The numbers I used above are very conservative.  Many cars can cost much more than 18k, get less than 31 MPG and require more maintenance than I estimated.  You also definitely don’t need to spend $2400 for a bike on which you are commuting.  I used those numbers to show that even when the numbers are tilted greatly to one side, the cost is not even close. 

Your Gut

Commuting isn’t just good for your wallet.  It also does wonders for your figure.  For my ten mile commute I burn between 250-400 calories—depending on how hard of an effort I make—each way.  The days I commute by bike, I thoroughly enjoy my extra 800 calories of wiggle room. 

For comparison’s sake, a gallon of gas contains roughly 31,000 calories of energy.  So if your car gets 31 MPG, that’s 1,000 calories per mile.  Meaning over a ten mile commute, a car burns about 10,000 calories while a bicycle only uses 400.  That is one efficient machine. 

If you body was as inefficient as a car—or you had to tow 3,000 spare pounds of metal behind your bike—you would have to jam a couple Big Macs down your throat to give yourself enough calories to make it to work.  20 Big Macs to be exact. 

Your Life

I think it is safe to say that commuting by bike can change who you are as a person.  Don’t underestimate what getting out on your bike for an hour or two everyday will do for your mind—even if it is just to get to and from work.  Many times, as in the case of my commute, because of traffic, riding is faster—only by 5 minutes or so, but still.  More than that though, I don’t have to make extra time for another workout.  My commute is my workout.  In that sense, commuting saves me hours a week.  Hours I can spend hanging out, or cooking for my wonderful wife—just living life.  

Driving gives me road rage, while riding gives me a sense of euphoria and freedom.  Face it: it’s just fun to ride your bike.  I love the fact that I get to do that regularly before and after work.  It gives me a chance to wind down from the stresses of the day. 

I realize that commuting isn’t always practical or convenient, but if you are looking for an excuse to start, there is no better one than what I just laid out.  I know people who commute 25-30 miles each way every day.  It’s not for everyone, but it has the power to change a lot about your life.  Save money and lose weight at the same time—I have seen many infomercials, but I guarantee none of them can really deliver on that promise.  Commuting can. 

So what do you have to lose?  I’d say quite a few pounds and a few thousand dollars in yearly expenses.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Be the Change: A way to safer riding

I’m not that old.  It wouldn’t surprise me if 85% of you are older than I am—so I don’t have an amazing wealth of wisdom to draw on when writing of cycling’s enigmatic topics.  But there are a few topics that, from my perspective, seem pretty unambiguous, yet still draw fervent debate from the two-wheeled (and in this case 4-wheeled) masses.  Cyclists’ safety is one of those common sense issues that in our world of extreme polarization, weasels its way into controversy.  

I don’t even feel like I’m going out on a limb when I say that safety—whether it pertains to cyclist-motorist relations, cyclist-cyclist relations, or cyclist-pavement relations—should not be a controversial issue.  Unfortunately it is, and we only have ourselves to blame.  More accurately, EVERYONE, cyclists, and motorists, and while we’re at it, pedestrians alike, have only themselves to blame. 

Unfortunately for everyone, human nature dictates that we have a pretty narrow scope when it comes to perspective.  We tend to see things from only our own point of view and try as we might; it is difficult to truly empathize with someone else’s perspective.  Because of this, issues like this fall victim to an “us vs. them” mentality.  Let’s face it people: humans are a pretty selfish breed.  Selfishness and our own inability to step outside of ourselves for even the smallest moment lead to simple issues—like safety—becoming controversial ones.  As a cyclist, I want measures to protect my rights as a cyclist.  As a motorist, Billy wants measures that protect his rights as a motorist.  And poof, a recipe for controversy is born.  

At their core, these opposing perspectives are not the problem.  Cyclists advocating for cyclists and motorists advocating for motorists should lead to fruitful compromise.  The problem is born out of either side’s selfish inability to consider the other’s point of view.  Controversy begets misunderstanding.  Misunderstanding begets animosity.  Animosity begets this.

At the beginning of this miniature rant I’ve embarked upon here, I said that this issue is a simple one.  So what do I propose to solve it?  We as cyclists have to start with ourselves.  I’ve seen so many articles that like to put all the blame on the other side.  “Annoying cyclists always ride in the middle of the street!  They always run red lights!” “Motorists are so careless.  They run us cyclists off the road!  They almost killed me!”

To be honest, both of those statements are absolutely true.  My problem with them though, is that they lay the blame squarely on the other side—while not even considering that both sides should share the responsibility.  I’m not the first to say it:  a whole bunch of cyclists ride like jerks.  But there are also plenty of motorists who give little to no respect to cyclists out there.  Confronting this lack of respect with hostility and even more disrespect only confirms the kinds of misconceptions each side bares towards the other.  So instead of trying to change motorists’ behavior—cyclists should try to change the way they themselves behave.  This will change the way that they are perceived.  Ipso facto, drivers won’t hate us so much—and maybe we can all just get a long a bit better.  

There are some simple things—things that wouldn’t even inconvenience you terribly on a ride—that will make us seem a bit less hypocritical when we wave our fingers at our four-wheeled friends. 

Though I don't recommend this, this video is pretty funny.  Watch out for stuff in the bike lanes.

Don’t recklessly blow through stop signs and red lights.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it is the end of the world to cautiously roll through either lights or signs when you can plainly see there is no traffic, but cyclists generally don’t do this—and it makes us look like assholes.  It also gives motorists the impression that we think we are better than them.  I could probably make a reasonable case that we are, in fact, better, but we are trying to make friends here.  

Helmets are cool these days.  I promise.  This kid looks super cool right?

For the love of all things that are good in this world: Wear a freakin’ helmet.  I can’t believe it, but I still see cyclists—of all types (not just hipsters)—rolling without a helmet.  How do you expect a motorist to value your life when you clearly don’t?  And don’t give me this “It’s a personal decision” argument.  I don’t buy it.  You not wearing a helmet has more to do with those around you than it does with yourself.  To be blunt, if you are in a serious accident without a helmet on, it’s likely that you won’t be around to have to deal with the consequences.  Plus nowadays helmets look pretty cool.  Get one.  Wear it. 

Be predictable.  Know your surroundings.  I could go on and on about little rules that will keep us both safer and in the better graces of motorists.  Let me be clear, I’m not trying to say that motorists are in the right here—and that we must only change ourselves to fit into their world.  That is not at all what I think.  There was a wise man who once said “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”  And I’m pretty sure that man was Ghandi.  And I’m pretty sure Ghandi knows what he is talking about.  

This guy knows cycling.

The real way forward here is to simply be careful.  What we do is extremely dangerous.  So often when you are confronted with an annoyance—like a car, when cycling, or a bike, when driving—we simply see the other side as just a motorist or just a cyclist.  We fail to see them as a husband or wife, brother or sister.  I think seeing people as other humans—with family and friends and a job and a home—make it a lot harder to be a complete jerk to them and endanger their lives.  At least I would hope that people have at least that much decency. 

Now I know that I may sound a bit optimistic here.  I am aware of the fact that it will take a lot more than just people not running red lights to stop the conflicts between cyclists and motorists.  And at the end of the day, only one of the sides is piloting a 3,500lbs hunk of metal—so we need to do whatever we can to protect ourselves.  I just wish we did it without simultaneously giving drivers unlimited fodder for their “take back our roads” fire. 

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.  

A Certain Shade of Gray: How to Rise Above Industry Hype

The human brain loves to classify things.  It loves to simplify everything into easily definable, black and white categories.  Black and white is easy.  Right and wrong, good and evil, in or out—are all crutches for our brains to make digesting complex ideas much simpler.  The problem is, life is rarely an issue of black and white.  Our world operates on a much murkier level. 

Cycling is no exception.  The choices we make for what bike, wheels, shoes, or clothing are all decisions that should be driven by context—who, what, when, and where you are—but we, as consumers, constantly try to make these into objective decisions.  Manufacturers know this and cater to it.  They would be stupid not to—their business model depends on convincing people that their product is best.  The data that manufacturers present is not necessarily incorrect—in fact it is almost always scientifically dependable, but it is rarely put into any kind of context. 

That is our responsibility.  A good bike shop will always help you take what industry marketing tells you is scientific fact and put it in the appropriate context.  It takes more fingers than I have to count the brands that claim to have the fastest frame or wheelset on the market—and pretty much everyone of them have some kind of data—wind tunnel testing or otherwise—to support their claims.  Your easy black and white situation just turned to a certain shade of gray. 

What which shade of gray goes best with your outfit?  How do you decipher this information to get what’s best for you?  Well honestly, it is best to treat each situation on a case by case basis—and that is where having a good relationship with your LBS (Local Bike Shop) is so crucial.  But to give you a little better understanding of how we would do that, let’s partake in a short case study.  Shall we?

Let’s take a quick look at aero wheels.  There is a myriad of data out there about which wheel is fastest, and we won’t have to consider the even murkier area of bike fit (which, by the way, should absolutely be considered on a case by case basis, specific to each and every customer—be leery of anyone who tells you they are selling the fastest bike available without considering you as an individual first). 

So to start our case study, I want you to go to any major wheel manufacturers’ website and look for their wind tunnel data graph.  They all have them.  You will find something like this:

From Zipp's website.

Or this:

From HED's website.

Or This:

From ENVE Composites' website.

So each of these manufacturers take this data and make the same pitch to you: “Our wheels are faster than anyone else’s.”  And in very specific situations, none of them are wrong.  Each of those graphs support that claim.  The thing about it is, they aren’t really comparing apples to apples.  Each company controls their own testing—and I’m not trying to say they don’t give honest results, but the conditions are different in every case. 

Two of these graphs show the drag measured in grams, with no mention of how fast the wheels were tested at, or whether they were on a bike or by themselves.  The other is very specific about how the wheels were tested, but then converts the drag into watts.  Two graphs test to 20 degrees yaw, while the other stops at 15 degrees.  The Hed data does not even include any competitors’ wheelsets.  See where I’m going with this?

I’m not trying to say that these wheels are not tested correctly or even that this data is incorrect or unreliable.  I’m not even qualified to make those claims.  I’m certainly no expert in aerodynamics or lab testing.  I’m just trying to say that there is more to the story than these graphs might suggest.

A wheel that performs well in one frameset, may not in another—and it may have been tested or developed without a frame around it at all.  A wheel that tests well at one angle of yaw, may not fare as well as others in more of a crosswind.  And so it goes.  The list of variables here is lengthy. 

So how do you go about choosing wheels?  Well you need to do some soul searching I suppose.  Ask yourself those really difficult questions.   What kind of rider am I?  What am I looking for my wheels to be good at?  What kind of bike do I ride?  Am I big or little?  Then seek out the data that illuminates these questions. 

For example, a triathlete who is 5’2” and weighs 97 lbs should look for a wheel that performs well in crosswinds because of the lack of stability of aero bars and his or her small stature.  A small climbing road cyclist, on the other hand, will want a light and responsive aero wheel that does well on hills.  You get where I’m going here.

The great news for everybody in this story, is that you have a wealth of expertise in these types of questions at your fingertips—and I’m not talking about Google.   Find a local independent bike shop that you trust and support them.  These exact situations are what give these shops their value.  We deal with these exact questions on a daily basis and have a wealth of experience in getting people matched with the correct equipment.  That is something you just can’t get from a website. 

Computers, science, the internet—they are good at black and white.  They will give you all the objective information you need about the latest and greatest.  But people—specifically people that you trust—are better when trying to decipher your own certain shade of gray. 

Get Off Your Computer = Get On Your Bike

It’s summer time people.  Though it happens today to be unreasonably hot, this is the time to get out and enjoy the world—preferably on your bike.  So in an effort to give you ample time to engage in some two-wheeled tomfoolery, I’m keeping today’s post succinct.  The tour is in full swing and here are the story lines you need to be following:

SAGAN:

One of the sillier victory salutes I've seen, but hey if you can back it up... Photo: © Bettini 

The big story of the first week of the tour is, without a doubt, Peter Sagan.  He has been touted as a rising star for a couple years now, but this is his Tour de France debut.  So how do you celebrate your first Tour ride?  Well you win the first stage you take part in…of course.  Impressive. 

CAV FREELANCING:

Cav took stage two with no lead-out whatsoever. Photo: © Bettini   

Though we have seen Sagan rack up a couple stage wins quickly, it is still unclear whether he can hang with the pure sprinters on the biggest stage.  Cavendish was impressive in his freelancing in stage 2—taking a big victory with no lead-out train to speak of.  Sagan got a bit manhandled in this pure bunch sprint, so we will wait and see if he is a true sprint contender, or more of an all around/uphill sprint kinda guy. 

POINTLESS BREAKING NEWS:

Vaughters' face when he heard the news...

Today’s big news dredges up more alleged, unconfirmed details in the already tired story about a cyclist who retired several years ago.  What’s his name again?  Oh well.  The real story for—for me anyway—is that Hincapie, Leipheimer, Vande Velde, Zabriske, and Vaughters are all listed as witnesses and may have admitted to doping themselves, but in exchange for testifying against unnamed Texan cyclist, will receive shortened bans that don’t start until later this year.  All of this is still very unconfirmed though, so I’m waiting for the real hammer to come down before I make any judgments. 

CRASHES—NOTHING NEW IN THE FIRST WEEK:

Wiggins was knocked out with a brocken collar bone last year.  Which favorite will be taken out this year?

Last year’s tour was particularly crash filled in the beginning of the race.  But I’m not actually sure this year is any better, with major crashes happening in pretty much every stage so far.  The only difference this year is that no major contenders—like Wiggins last year—have been knocked out.  Keep your fingers crossed that your rooting interest doesn’t hit the deck though, as there are still a couple nervous flat finishes remaining in the first week.  Fresh legs, nervous energy, and the big lights of the biggest race of the year makes everyone think they can and should be at the front kicking for the stage—except that they can’t all fit at the front.  Look for more close calls in the next couple days until the group settles in.

CADENCE—ROCKIN’ IT TOUR DE FRANCE STYLE:

Did you see our rockin’ commercial on NBCSports?  In case you were wondering, I ride Cadence too.  Aside from the awesome production, put together by none other than one, Brady Gibney, notice the plug for our Cannondale Demo Day at the end of the commercial.  Come out on July 28^th to test some rocking Cannondales.  You won’t be disappointed. 

Now get off your computer, and go ride your bike.