Entries Tagged 'road cycling' ↓

AE time trial course is set. easy to do. Challenging to ride. Hope to see you all on the 18th.

To all the dad’s out there – Happy Father’s Day; I’m sure you got a ride in – I did a 38:36 24 km ITT as part of the JYDogs stage race on June 20; good organization and good course; km markers the whole way; the lake wind; Thanks to the volunteers for their time and energy; Happy Summer Solstice to all….

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.

Rick at the Cyclocross

It was an excellent course; fast, smooth; technical in sections; had great flow and the barrier placement was as challenging as it gets. The post race draw for jerseys, caps and those brakes while eating hot dogs, Euro weiners and sausages was a socializers’ dream. An excellent set-up with fine seasonal weather. Alas, this typers legs weren’t there but it was an excellent workout; fun was had by all; until next CCross race WHICH IS THE PROVINCIALS AT WOODHAVEN PARK on November 1 – a great venue and perfect to burn off those Halloween treats; see you then.
Thanks to all those volunteers for the course, feeding and cheers.

… was a technical mud fest. The course was fast and challenging – the snow and melt resulting in mud, slippery off camber grass; 180 degree turns after a descent with speed on the grass made the course a technical riders dream!! It was a blast – although my bike weighed about 4 kgs more at the end and my shoes about the same – cleaning of me, the ride and shoes took about 60 minutes; kudo’s to the organizers for the work they did before and after the event; the music and announcer; the course and ‘lack’ of a mud pit made it the Event as promoted. Next up is Altona and the Sausage Fest. Until then, quality.

The Belgian CCross event is just that – an event that s/b on your calendar even if only to come watch. THIS IS A MUST DO EVENT, EVEN IF IT RAINS OR SNOWS; it has grown each year as a showcase cross event. The course is always fast challenging and fun; plus the frites avec mayo are worth the trip; guaranteed appetite builder for the turkey and pumpkin pie later on in the weekend. Don’t miss the fun! C U THERE!

The Cross season continues at Bourkevale CC on Sunday Oct 4. Hop to the MCA website for more info on this event – not just a race day. Hope to see you at the first barrier. CG