Entries Tagged 'Club Rides' ↓

What a great day! The AECC ride was enjoyed by 22 riders who no doubt enjoyed the fine weather. BHP showed its stuff during a tri/duathlon; try a tri/du event on Sunday; the new Speed Concept was a hit! Thanks to all for stopping by; come by the store for a test ride, just get in line….

15 riders came out today. Great pace. East wind allowed guttering to occur and a temporary split. We came back together and powered down River Road. Great ride. See you next week at 8:45 a.m. to sign up – ride leaves at 9:00 a.m. sharp.

Alter Ego’s new club jersey and shorts kit for 2010

Click link to view:

Alter Ego Jersey-Short

I have had a lot of friends and customers ask Why, and some riding buddy’s have even toss out “traitor”. Why retire my Cervelo SLC SL? Well it has been hard to pass on the best bike I had ever ridden.For the past two years It was my rocket, the Ferrari, a true Pro tour team bike. But all good things have their “day”. This all started at Trek world 2010 back in August  I got to test drive a 6.9 for the first time, Wow this bike impressed me. All the performance that I want and have been use to, but with added comfort all day. After that test drive I started thinking why not?

Why not, be able to pick the paint job that you dream about. Why not be able to pick all of the parts that you want to ride. Why not be able to pick the cable housing color and the cork tape color. Why not be able to pick the decal color on your wheels. Trek bikes call it the end of “No” All of this and delevery times of  14 days or more…. WOW!

This is the bike frame that Lance and the boys fought with in their own team and with the rest of the peleton to win the Tour de France this past summer.

The whole procses is fun form start to finish.

Frist step is jumping on the Trek Project one web site. The hardest step is the first, pick your paint. Select series are stock paint jobs and do not cost extra. Signature series is where your dream bike live. Mutiple combinations can be dreamed up on your computer. I tryed many diffrent paint jobs but kept coming back to the Team Issue with White primary and Chi Rede as the secondary.  Rick kept pressing me to get the Green Flames, but that’s just not my style.

Second step is the drive train. That was easy for me, dream bike = Super Record 11. Once you have ridden Campagnolo you understand. Nothing shifts like it and nothing has the same erogonomics for your hands. Their are three diffrent actions in a modern shifter, and with campy their are 3 diffrent levers for each job. Break lever, up shift lever and a down shift lever. With three up shifts and five down shifts with one sweep of the levers, you can react so fast to any hill or sprint faster that other shifters. And it just looks bad ass and so euro…

Third step is components. Wheels, saddle, bar, stem and housing color. Wheels very easy, Bontrager. More grand tours have been won and raced on these wheels than any other wheel system. They also have a five year warranty on defects. With Project One you get to chose the decal color to make the look of the bike unreal. The bar and stem is getting down to width and length and of course it had to be white. Once this step is done, the fine details are complete by chosing the cranks size, gear compination and cassette sizing.

Total custom, and shipping in 14 days or more, why not!

How does it ride? This is now the best bike I have ever ridden. And I have only has 250km on it so far. It reacts to any thing I want to do so fast. The performance is on par with my past ride, but it is much more comfortable. Three hours in to a ride my body is fresher and I still can rip a killer sprint with out the usual protest from my body. All I can say is look out next year boys…. And last but not least  it looks so much hotter on on the road.  Watch for it on rides next year.

How often do we we get to ride the same bikes that the Pro’s would use in the grand tours?

Well for the past two season I have been very lucky and able to ride and enjoy one of those Pro tour bikes, a Cervelo SLC SL. You can’t get much better than this, I have ridden this bike all over Manitoba, Northwest Ontario a week in Penticton, many group rides and It helped me win my first crit race in 7 years.  This bike is a unreal bike to ride, it is on of the lightest bike on the market and the most aerodynamic. Riding this bike you quickly get use to how torsionally stiff it is, you think where you want to go and your there. You can just rail the turns and know that the back wheel will follow the front end, just as you would expect with the level of engineering. One thing that most of my riding buddy’s got use to, is how stiff the bottom bracket are is, when the sprints started the frame wouldn’t let me down. The Power transfer from the pedals to the back wheel is out standing when you push down on the pedals the bike wants to rocket forward, and for me, often over 60Km/hr.

Dura Ace 7800 is the high end equipment that will not let you down, even in 2009 some pro teams switched back to it after using 7900. I did opt for different brakes on this ride, Bontrager Speed limit Brakes offered a lot of solid stopping power, with the addition of Jagwire Racer cables the stopping power is ample with out breaking the bank.  I also switched out the stock wheels for something nicer, the Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 carbon clinchers with a Powertap rear hub. And yes I trained, raced and road every ride on this wheel set. That alone shows how great these wheels are. Bontrager offers a 5 year warranty on them, and having a power tap with them is a dream. 5000 to 6000 km later I still have not trued them…. wow. The only other upgrade I added  was to the FSA SLK light cranks a Ceramic bottom bracket. And yes it does make a difference. The cranks will spin so easy and will not rob you of any power.

All summed up this was the best bike I have ever owned. I was a hard fought battle to put it out to pasture. I have had so much fun with it and it just looks so hot. It’s a bike that just stands out and some one will enjoy it as much as I have. A long as the next owner dosn’t beat me in a sprint, I’ll be ok in selling it. It will be posted up on our Used bike section and I will post it on the triathlon Web site if you know any one looking for a great deal on a Dream bike watch out for the posts.

My season began on my trainer in February.  I am always keen in the spring as I will have been cooped up all winter in my basement with the exception of the once or twice a week I xc ski in my back yard with my dogs.  I watched tour de France videos and spun till my heart was content.  From what I can gather not alot of people can sit on a trainer for 2-3 hours at a time, not a problem here.

My spin came back after 3-4 weeks as it always does and I was looking forward to the race season on my Mountain bike.  Living where I do I tend to only ride my road bike unless I’m racing in which case I am on my MTB obviously.  I did ok in the first few races of the year finishing in my usual mid-pack expert form and was not expecting to do any major damage with all the usual suspects looking fast as usual.

Being lazy and not wanting to drive  out to the hills (of which there definately are within 1.5-2 hours away) every weekend I tend to focus on the Wednesday night series at the bur oak trail in Birds hill park.  This for me has always been the most enjoyable racing  by far.  If you want to try mountain biking and don’t want to put your job, family, and life at risk riding some of the silly courses that can be set up at times , this is the series for you.  I spend my mountain bike days riding at the bur oak because its close, it’s dry and if its not challenging enough for you….go faster.

I would also like to mention how much I enjoyed The Alter Sunday morning shop rides.  This was our second summer running them and for most who attend they seem to become a regular.  Our pace is quite casual relative to the paces that I’ve been told many other group rides  are performed at.  We do not consider these rides races by any means so much as a casual conversation pace gathering of like minded cyclists.  Having said that, for those who have been on these rides know there are a couple of areas where the speed will jump up considerably for a short period of time for a few of the riders before settling back down and re-compressing the peloton.  These are not sprints of course as this is a “casual” ride .  Merely a chance for those involved to create a platform from which to brag aloud post ride.  Hope the bridges are repaired by spring.

I really had a great summer of riding despite the great farming weather.  I do have to say though (and I may be a bit biased here) my favorite race of this year, as it was last year had to be the 8 hour race held at the birch bike park, put on by the alter ego club. Shawn, Moni, Al, Team Seier and others laid out a great course for the event (true flow).  Mother nature took the opportunity pre event to ensure that the number of racers who came out were limited.  Despite that the comradarie and attitude of all who attended just seemed to be about having fun.  The keg of beer may have aided to that end as well.

All in all a great season of riding bicycles.  I now need to change my focus and pull out the misery sticks for another season of xc skiing.  We had tried to have a regular night of skiing at windsor park nordic center in the past but have been very hit and miss.  We’ll see this year I guess.  I need to learn to like classic skiing.  It’s tough to strap on the shufflers when I know I can go skate skiing where I may be a little more proficient.

I did manage to win the Wednesday night point series in The Expert men category somehow.  Perhaps due to all my mtn bike riding being done there.  I guess I’ll have a bit of a target on my back next year….oh well (maybe next year Steve ).

For those who are of similar stature to me [5 foot 8 ish] .  I have a couple of bicycles that need to leave the comfort of my home.  I have a gently used  Specialized 2009 Tarmac SL2 with world champion Paolo Bettini colors (special edition) with full Sram red groupo, Roval fusee star wheelset and schwalbe ultremo tires for sale.  Size 52 cm.  I have a new bike on the way (yes we’re very spoiled at Alter).                                                            dave@alteregosports.com

I also have My beautiful hardtail for sale.  A 2007 Secialized stumpjumper comp frame 17″ in arctic cat green with full XT components and an XTR rear derailleur.  FOX rl 90 fork.  The wheels that will be sold with it have not been used with the exception of the rear that was used for one race by a member of Team Seier.  Obviously mechanic owned and maintained.  $2500.00 retail approx.  $1200.00 price                          dave@alteregosports.com

The wheels I put on that bike as soon as I received it are going as well.  Stans olympic ZTR rims laced to DT Swiss 240 hubs 6 bolt via DT swiss revoloution 1.8-1.5 stainless spokes with blue anodized aluminum nipples.  I built these myself and have not had to true them.  Max rider weight is around 190lbs.          dave@alteregosports.com

Don’t need to sell this stuff however with my current ride being a Trek top fuel 9.9 ssl I haven’t been using much else.

Again ,Thanks to everyone who was a part of one or all of my adventures this year and we’ll see you next year.  Rumor has it I may have access to a coach for the winter .

Dave.

A true cyclocross course; great rider turnout; great spectators; late start but that was the only issue; fun and challenging; AE club members should dive into this late season riding; it is a great intense workout if nothing else; you will also get some great bike handling skill practise in less than an hour; cyclocross is an awesome workout.  Hope to see you out for some barrier hopping good times.  There is a category for you.  So there is no excuse.  Besides, the snow will be falling soon enough.  CG

As a part of our regular sunday road rides, this upcoming Sunday we will be diverting into more of an urban setting – heading downtown to take part in the Ciclovia event.

Still start at the same time at the shop, but we will be heading north instead of south.

More info about the event here: Ciclovia Winnipeg

• Where: Birch Ski Hill (Roseisle MB)
• When: July 26^th, 2009
• Meet Location: Humpty’s/Petro Canada corner of McGillvary  and Perimeter
• Time: meet at 9:00 am

This ride is anticipation of the 8 Hour endure race the Alter Ego is hosting in August. After our ride and minor trail maintenance, we will have a BBQ and the club will bring drinks and burgers.

Please RSVP to Moni and Allan at: mubouch@shaw.ca

Come out this Monday with your mountain bike and check out the fantastic obstacles that have been built this summer for the purpose of practicing all manner of off-road riding skills! Last Monday was awesome and this Monday Shaw Cable is coming out to film some riding and interview riders of all abilities. These rides are great for the very “green” to the much experienced as our obstacles can be altered to suit all levels of ability and courage!

Ride a little or a lot. Stay late or leave early. Just come on out and have some fun on your bike!

MOUNTAIN BIKE SKILLS – Shaw Cable session
Date: Monday July 20, 2009
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: Whittier Park
Bike: MTB
Skills: We’ll use some props and obstacles to practice slow speed technique, wheel lifts (over logs etc.), basic wheelies/drops, riding skinnies & teeter totters.

N.B – This session is being set up for a Shaw Cable segment on cycling.

Thanks!
Allan