Cycling. Paintball. Snowboard. XC Ski.

Just the facts ma’am; multi tool, bar tape; chain cleaner, EMT survival kit; tubes; patch kit/tyre levers; powders, nrg tablets; supplements; gloves; socks; CO2 canisters; saddle bag; toque; mitts/gloves; grip/glide wax; snowboard tune kit; rub on wax; base cleaner; speed oil; gummy stone; clothing for larger stocking stuffing; and coffee for all!!

There are as many tactics for this theme as there are riders so I’ll jump in with shoes – using clipless pedals; The Northwave Celcius or the Specialized Defroster are 2 cozy shoes that allow clipless pedals; just keep the tension at a low setting for easy/quick foot release. For the hardcore rider – Lake makes a shoe – MXZ 302 that is amazingly warm even in -25C and riding for 30 minutes. My hands though….. facial coverage is a must via a LavaWool face mask or other piece but this one offers great coverage and comfort. This is just one riders’ opinion. The key is to ride and stay warm – these make it better. ride safe and stay warm.

12 and counting – SF’rs that is!! All indoor trainers and their vomitrons who want a good wo and great company come on down to the Wpg Rowing Club for a 90 minute training session with SufferFest or Coach Troy or any other indoor cycling DVD. 9:00 a.m start time – every Sat except Boxing Day. Call Rick at 475-4908 for more info.

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.

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.

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