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| A Mountain in the Livingroom |
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| Mount Livingroom - the setup |
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| Speedplay Nanograms |
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20-Dec-2008: Well, the year is coming to a close and a new one is about to begin. This past year has been a challenging one to say the least on many different levels. Plans were made and changed. The year started with me totally gutting my condo and renovating it. Work load dictated how often I could ride and whether I could go to Europe.
For the upcoming year, again it looks like it will be just as busy as 2008 maybe even more so. At least I won't be up to my eyeballs in drywall dust. I only have a few things to still complete and get some furniture for the condo. As for the cycling plans, it would be cool to do L’Étape du Tour Monday, July 20th, 2009 : Montélimar / Mont Ventoux. I am anxious to get my hands on CycleFilm's L'Etape du Tour 2009 - The Road to Mt. Ventoux DVD to see what the route looks like.
As for training for it or a Gran Fondo, I can now do it from the comfort of my own living room! I just took delivery of an Elite RealPower trainer earlier this week. It is a computer based training system along the lines of the fabled Computrainer. I have been using the Elite Fluid Primo model for the past few years and found it really good. I especially like the Elastogel roller system which has a rubberized roller meaning you don't end up with little rubber bits all over you floor after you complete a session.
During the riding season, I would often go ride the hills around town here. The only problem with that is that they are short and you cannot do an extended climb like you would with a real mountain. With the RealPower unit, I now have a mountain in my livingroom. And, it does feel like riding on mountain resistance wise.
By simple putting the bike into the correct slope using a bunch of phone books and setting the resistance level in the software, I can now do a 15 km climb at 6% if I like. In fact, the ride this morning was pretty much that. While the city dug itself out of our first major snow storm of the year and with temperatures at -16ºC (1ºF) outside, I did a 5 km warm up and then had the software kick up the slope to 6% for the next 15 km. And sure enough, I was doing the speeds I would be doing if riding at 6% on a mountain.
With my old trainer, I used to use my R2.5. It is still the original build with the 130 BCD chain rings. On Tuesday, I tried to do a simple 8 km ride that would simulate riding up Chaumont in Switzerland which has an average gradient of 10% for the 6 km climb. Well, my spindly old legs just aren't used to a 42/23 setup. I couldn't complete the ride! Yes, call me a wuss! The legs were shot and so were the lungs. Now I understand why I was able to noodle up some of those climbs in Europe the way I did and why the Italians were cursing me during the Gran Fondo in Como! They were grinding away with a standard setup and I was "cheating" with the compact set up.
Once I switched to the R3, which does have a compact crank setup, everything started to feel what I expected. The speed was about right as was the cadence. Now it is a civilized 36/23 setup which these old legs can handle.
I will probably set up my own training courses for the first month or so and then use some of the provided ones. And I can use the video sessions they provide (the box came with 15 video training DVDs) or the RealAxiom courses which do include Mt. Ventoux.
And the latest light weight set of parts finally came in, the Speedplay NanoGram's! I have been lusting over those puppies for well over a year. The only folks I saw that had them were Competitive Cyclists, one of our larger US dealers. No deals on that one, I paid full pop! And, I think the comments made by our TestTeam partners at Speedplay are right, there are those who will pay that kind of price for them. I tell you this weight weenie stuff is a disease!
Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!
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Comments from Rich
I too have bought an Elite RealPower trainer with a similar set up. Although I have a Continental trainer specific tire, which I inflate at 120 lbs. and crank the knob 3.5 times after contact with the tire, I still experience some tire shreading when climbing steep hills, like Mt. Ventoux. Does anyone else have a simar problem?
It's great being able to do some of the epic climbs of the Tour and Giro in the comfort of one's own home on cold snowy days.
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Comments from Sylvester Silvia
I see Cervelo's are now available at two (canadian) Forzani Sports Store chains (Ernies' Sports Experts) Does this mean we will be seeing Cervelo's for sale from Canadian Sport CheK, Sport Mart stores as well? Can a sporting goods mass market store do as good a job as a specialty IBD bicycle shop can with regards to selection and fitting of Cervelo bicycles?
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| Back to reality |
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| Final group ride on Tuesday |
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25-Oct-2008: Reality, what a let down! Made it back to Toronto midweek after two glorious rides Monday and Tuesday. It sure is a let down being back especially with the weather. Flying from Roma on Wednesday, I left sunny, clear skies, no wind and a temperature of 22ºC (75ºF) for 8ºC (46ºF) with winds gusting up to 30 km/h (20 mph). Yuck!
Monday I went to the cafe where the group meets only to find one other rider, Dino. Between the two of us in broken English and Italian, we came up with a plan to go south towards Roma and then make our way up the south side of Tolfa. It was a great day with no wind and just the right riding temperature of about 17ºC (63ºF). We had little traffic to contend with except for a smoking tractor just as we entered Tolfa proper. Going up an 8% slope sucking on diesal fumes is not a fun activity that is for sure. Dino commented about my riding style which is to basically stay in the saddle and spin at a high cadence up the mountain. He likened it to Lance Armstrong's climbing style.
Once we topped up on water at the public water fountain, we headed down the west side of the mountain. Dino let me lead out and I barrelled my way down pedalling all the way. By now, I was very comfortable descending even with oncoming traffic as I had practiced enough going into the corners and coming out of them pedalling like a madman. At the bottom, Dino congratulated me on a good ride. I guess not many Canadese try to ride like the locals or even keep up! Hey, that sounded like me last year!!
I thought I had started the logging for the Sigma Rox 9.0 when we started out but alas I didn't, so I can't give you some of the readings for the climb up the south side of the mountain. I really wanted to get some readings as to the slopes at various junctures.
Tuesday, I knew was going to be a tough ride given that I had just done about 200 km within the last couple of days including some tough climbs. But I was determined to go riding with the group one last time and to climb back up to Tolfa. This time I was going to make sure I turned the logging on! Although I didn't have the heart monitor, I still wanted some cycling readings to come back with.
We headed north from Civitavechhia along the now familiar north route which takes us about 30 km north of the city. We had a larger group this time of about a dozen riders. And boy, were they frisky! I guess with taking a day off on Monday they wanted to stretch out the legs, so they set a blistering pace at one point of 40 km/h! I was in the process of getting dropped as the legs just weren't ready for that kinda pace and dropped I was.
Luckily for me they didn't keep it up and I was able to catch up with the group after a brief chase. Once we hit the turn around point, we headed south into a slight head wind. Pino tried to get a pace line going with one of junior riders but just couldn't make it work. I found it amazing that these guys couldn't even make a simple 4 rider paceline work smoothly. Ironically, most of the folks I ride with on the Donut ride can do pacelines, not a good as the pros, but not as bad as the one we tried Tuesday. Only Pino and myself could glide our bikes to just in front of the lead rider whereas the other guys would zoom off a bike or two lengths ahead, or wouldn't come up the side with the next rider properly. Momma mia!
To finish off the ride, the group turned off the main route back into town towards the road up to Tolfa. This suited me just fine. I would finally be able to gage my progress from last year.
Once we hit the base of the climb, I passed a couple of riders and started to spin up the first section of the climb. I was quickly joined by 3 other riders, younger riders to boot. I keep the lead position until about a kilometer from the end of the first section when two of the riders kicked it up a knotch and passed me. I was able to stay within about 40 metres of them the rest of the way to the end of the section.
We waited for the rest of the group and together we headed up towards Tolfa along the main road. Again, I spun up the mountain distancing myself from the group behind me. I was actually quite surprised by that. I think I maintained about a 75 m gap on the younger guys for the rest of the climb. Near the top, I branched off towards Tolfa through La Bianca. It has a couple of stretches which peak at 13%. I was hoping to meet up with everyone in the piazza in Tolfa to get one last picture, but didn't see anyone. Not quite sure what happened.
After topping up with water from the public fountain, I made my way down again the west and north sides of the mountain back to Civitavechhia and Roberto's bar for a double espresso. Not a bad way to end the cycling in Italy.
After getting back into Toronto, I have been trying to play catch up with work and figure out what happened with the Sigma Rox 9.0. I contacted the folks at Sigma Sport USA. Joe, their Southwest Sales Manager, helped me figure out the issue of heart monitor. It seems that when I was standing at the starting line, the heart monitor to keep the computer from going into full sleep mode while letting the other sensors loose their sync signals. Joe was able to give me the tip of making sure I have the computer disconnected from its holder while in periods of inactivity bike wise while wearing the heart monitor. Now, if you are using the heart rate monitor, you don't have to worry about it as the computer will re-sync itself each time you start cycling again.
What's next? Well, when I was sitting on the tarmac at the airport in Roma, ASO was announcing the route for next years Tour de France. Looks like Mont Vonteux is the L’Étape du Tour next year. Could be an interesting ride no doubt. And, with all the Cervélo TestTeam stuff happening, maybe even a ride with them at some point. Just have to see what the upcoming year brings.
Oh yes, can't forget to throw in a few rides with Victor just to keep things interesting.
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Comments from Phil
Guys at Cervelo,
Don't miss this funny article on the P4 waterbottles
http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/11/camelback-tucknology-to-be-used-with-p4.html
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| Giro di Lombardio Gran Fondo - The Ride |
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| The climb up to Madonna del Ghisallo |
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| Arrivo at Madonna del Ghisallo |
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| Madonna del Ghisallo Church |
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| The last climb of the day up S.Fermo della Battaglia |
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| The pasta party after the race in the piazza at the finish line |
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20-Oct-2008: Made it through safely and got back in once piece with all my body parts still attached except for maybe my wits! And this time, the lights didn't come on at 4 am like last year! Hurrah! I was even able to have a civilized breakfast at 7:30 and was able to walk to the start line.
Given the start time of the ride being 9 am and that the hotel was but 250 m from the actual start line, it was much easier to get to the start than last year. Like the L’Étape du Tour last year, they arrange the riders according to Bib number in blocks off 500 or so. The serious racers are in the first group of 150. These are the riders who are riding to win the race.
Unlike L’Étape du Tour, They don't keep each block intact and send you off as a block. The Gran Fondo's remove the barriers for each block and allow the entire set of riders to move up to the back of the preceeding group. Definitely makes for an interesting start.
Just as they got ready to I started the log to the Sigma Rox 9.0, or so I thought. Once I got underway, everything was zero. No speed, no distance. Nothing, nada, bubkist! Not nice.
I pulled over to the side of the road within the first 500 metres to see if I could figure out the problem. I thought it may have something to do with the sensors not picking up the magnets. After fiddling with it, I started off again and still nothing. So I pull over again. Fiddle some more and still nothing.
All I could do was go by instinct as I could not tell how fast we were moving.
The first part of the ride was fast as one would expect. I stayed to the right side of the road to allow the faster riders to pass. I always made sure that I checked to see if someone was trying to pass me before I passed someone else. I certainly didn't want my day to end prematurely.
And speaking of which, I did see two riders involved in a crash ride in front of me. I am not sure how they got to where they ended up, but, it wasn't pretty.
These two riders were on the far left of the road as we were on the far right basically in a single line. I guess they weren't paying attention or who knows what but all you heard was the crunching into a turning curb head on. One of them did an endo over his handle bars right into rose bushes! Oh, that had to have hurt in more ways than one.
Now, I intended to do the Gran Fondo but in the end I did the Medio Fondo. As my Italiano is not that good, I didn't understand one of the course guides who was in the middle of the road. I went straight after what I thought he said was "Medio Fondo a destra" or Medio Fondo right. So, I essentially went left. In the end, it wasn't a bad thing. Unlike L’Étape du Tour, you are not riding on a closed course. There are many times when you are sharing traffic on the road, so you definitely have to be careful. Cars sneak into your line of travel and on most roads, they are coming from the opposite direction. At least on the trickery descents, they have the roads closed off. Otherwise, that could be a catastrophy waiting to happen.
I tried once more to get the trip computer to work with the sensors, but the only thing it was showing active was the heart rate monitor. Finally just before we reached Bellagio I decided to take off the monitor after I had a nature break. I had a hunch that I hadn't registered everything properly and it was the heart rate monitor gumming up the works. I know that the trip computer worked well on the test ride the day before, so that was the only new thing introduced in the mix.
And lo and behold, just after we started the climb up to Madonna del Ghisallo, I noticed that the trip computer was sleeping. I clicked on the log start and viola, data.
What a wonderful sight! Especially on the climb of the day. Now, this is where the Sigma Rox 9.0 computer is really cool. Looking at the data recorded, I was doing between 9 km/h and 17 km/h ranging from 13% to 6% slopes. As for the ride up Ghisallo, again I was very surprised to be passing people all the way up. I was only passed in a couple of instances myself so again, it looks like the setup on the bike was perfect.
Having the Reynolds MV 32T ULs wheels for this ride was wonderful. They performed well going both up and down the mountain especially down from Civiglio which was somewhat rough in sections and extremely technical. And to make things even more interesting, the front runners of the Gran Fondo were hurtling down the mountain at the same time. Every now and then I would hear from behind "Occhio!" and a rider hurtling headlong down the road into the switch back as fast as they could go. Looking at the trip data, the slopes down that road were in the 10% range. Momma mia!
The good thing about making the wrong turn was that being just behind the front runners, I was able to get some clear road. Well, almost. As it would happen, I was able to get some good long sections without cars and was able to hit speeds on the flats of 53 km/h. Then, as I approached an intersection just before the last climb, the light turned green and the cars started travelling right at me. They paid no attention to the traffic cop standing in the intersection. Did I say that Gran Fondos are somewhat different than L’Étape du Tour? Well they are.
My descending on most of the roads except for Civiglio was much better than last year thanks to all the descents down the mountain from Tolfa. This time I was able to pedal through the turns instead of coasting. Also, the Sigma Rox 9.0 has a neat feature of showing the descent incline which helps let you know to put on the gas as you have a free assist from gravity.
Francesco was able to charm his way with the hotel front desk to hold the room until 2 o'clock so I could shower, so again, the Medio Fondo worked out better. I made it back by 1 o'clock and had plenty of time to shower and get the bags into the car to make it back to Civitavechhia. As we made our way out of the city, we crossed onto the race route (remember the cars I mentioned earlier, guess we just became one of them), and you could see the riders coming back in one by one interspersed within the traffic.
Okay, so how did I do? The winner of the Medio Fondo did the ride in 3h 0m 29s. My time was 3h 55m 18 placing me 508th overall. Within my age group, the winner came in at 3h 9m 55s. I was 50th within that group. I would have done better had it not been for the fiddling with the trip computer.
Here are the splits:
Splits
| Rilevamento |
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Km |
Time |
Average |
Pos |
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Km |
Tempo |
Average |
Pos |
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Parziale |
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Frazione |
| Madonna del Ghisallo |
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69,00 |
2:25:11 |
28,51 Km/h |
625 |
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69,00 |
2:25:11 |
28,51 Km/h |
624 |
| Civiglio |
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97,00 |
3:19:43 |
29,14 Km/h |
566 |
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28,00 |
0:54:31 |
30,81 Km/h |
546 |
| San Fermo |
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108,00 |
3:42:15 |
29,16 Km/h |
541 |
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11,00 |
0:22:31 |
29,30 Km/h |
253 |
| Arrivo |
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113,00 |
3:54:43 |
28,89 Km/h |
529 |
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5,00 |
0:12:28 |
24,06 Km/h |
217 |
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Comments from Mark
Dear Matt, Congratulations on the ride - I was there too!!...an american riding in local Czech team jersey (I live in Prague). I too was not sure about the course split but I managed to get on the Gran Fondo as I hoped...the two climbs you missed were nice - typical of the area, a few km's and very steep in parts. Your description is right-on and I appreciate the photos - I can show others. Wasn't the approach and then climb to Ghisallo spectacular!?!...I felt like I was playing a pick-up baseball game at Yankee Stadium!! And I totally agree with the occasionally chaotic, baffling, or non-existent traffic control - especially in Como at the end. A group of about 50 of us took a wrong turn before the first tunnel going toward Bellagio - there was a lot of shouting and hand gestures....it was hilarious. I managed unscathed myself, approx 4:55 for the gran fondo and 58/119 in my age class. What a awesome day and experience - I hope all your readers have a chance to ride it someday. And may I suggest also the Argus Tour in Cape Town, March...also spectacular and great people and camaraderie. Something like 35,000 start - in blocks like you describe for Etape, and all closed roads. These 2 rides were the perfect bookends on a great season!!...I'm hoping for more of the same next year, and with luck on an R3. Thanks for the blog and keep up the good rides. Mark
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Comments from Rafal
Hi Matt,
I was there as well and what triggered me to write few words was the fact that I have also seen the crash you mentioned (I think one of the rider was a girl) so we must have been riding very close (I was in a jersey with British flag on both sides). I was a bit nervous after seen it and I pushed even harder to find much smaller group as I'm not to comfortable riding in a large packs.
I also missed teh turn and only did 112km and not 138; riding in a pack I have not realised they were doing the shorter lap. I finished just outside top 200 some 25 min behind winners (2:27 chip time) but I was trying to go steady pace and not too hard (still average 33kmph with 1,600 climbing). I started last as I entered the ride as one of the last people which must have cost me at least few minutes. I was riding quite a lot on my own overtaking and when I needed some rest I was riding with a pack. After some 30-35km I joined a small group but they seemd to let me work much more that they did: they were riding on flats about 37-38 kmph and when I was in front I would push well above 40kmph and they would follow me - I would be going much faster if I was riding in a stronger pack. Than the climbs started and I was working hard but still tried to be around 80-90%. It was quite nice as I beat my PB climbing Ghisallo by 1:30 (28:50) and nobody overtook me (all good climbers were already well ahead of me). However, going downhill they all were faster than me. After the Ghisallo a stronger group formed and we were going quite nicely approx 45kmph+ on flats, but again I was quite fast uphill and only 2 guys managed to keep my pace, they dropped me again downhill. And so we were playing to the finish line, 3 of us finished together, I managed to go over 55kmph on the last straight but one of them was much better sprinter :) I have to say that my lack of experience how to ride in a group was apparent and the Italians ride like maniacs - as if their life was depending on it, I have never seen so many crashes and people going so fast downhill or breaking so late just before a hairpin.
Good like with your training and racing,
PS: I was racing on my old training bike but if I have money I would return on a R3 or even R3SL next year.
Rafal
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Comments from Janet
Congrats Matt!
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| The day before |
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| Madonna Del Ghisallo, the big climb of the day tomorrow |
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| The support cars following the peloton for today's race |
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| There it is, Bib No. 153 |
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18-Oct-2008: It is the day before the Gran Fondo. While I went out to do a final test ride before the big ride tomorrow, Francesco picked up my Gran Fondo Giro di Lombaria bib numbers and timing chips. This time it is Bib No. 153.
So what is a Gran Fondo? Loosely translated, it means big ride. There is a good website by April Pedersen Santinon, http://www.biciveneto.it/granfondo.html, which explains in great detail the inner workings of the Gran Fondo and how to prepare for them.
They are somewhat different than L’Étape du Tour in that they really are races in which people receive points similar to local series races. And, I suspect the start will be fast and furious making life very interesting in that the hotel is but a couple of hundred metres away from the start area. Unlike the Etape from last year where the local roads were cordone off for about 3 km, I won't even get a chance to do a quite warmup ride to the start line. So I have to figure out what to do to make sure the legs are ready as the start could be fast and being at the front means plenty of people behind will want to get to the front.
The first 5 kilometres will be fairly flat after which we hit our first small climb, so hopefully things will start to stretch out at that point and some space will open up to allow for a better reading of the road ahead. Unlike a friendly group ride, I very much doubt people will be pointing out bad surfaces as we roll along.
I was able to ride part of the course for today's Giro di Lombardia along the west shore and almost ran smack headon into the race coming back. If I had have been 1 minute sooner I would have been able to seen the full peloton race buy. As it was I saw the last 10 riders before I was able to pull out the camera and fire it up. I was thinking that I had caught a breakaway group, but alas, it was the tail end. Just to make things interesting, the tail end of the support vehicles was about 5 minutes behind the main caravan. The roads opened up to early for the cars and as a result there was a bit of excitement when I hit a small village with a single car-width roadway with timed lights for the traffic to traverse the roadway. I could hear the wail of the police/ambulence sirens off in the distance when they hit the spot were I was stopped, the broom wagon van with an ambulence in tow came screaming through trying to catch up with the back of the support caravan. Not sure if there was a crash in the first 50 km or not.
I was able to test out the Sigma Rox 9.0 during its first shape down ride and was able to upload the data to my laptop at the hotel. Wow! It is a pretty cool device to say the least. So cool, I have removed the Bion Clino 401 trip computer.
While the Bion Clino 401 gives a more accurate measure of the incline (to one decimal place), the Sigma Rox 9.0 was able to give me a close approximation the incline (just a rounded version of the incline to no decimal places). And looking at the data it produced, I should be able to provide some interesting data points from tomorrows ride. I don't ride with a heart rate monitor but I am thinking just for tomorrow to use it to find out just how hard I did work during the ride. This trip computer can sample and record the data at 5 second increments (allows for a maximum of 13 hours data collection), so we should be able to get a pretty good representation of the ride. I just have to remember to click on the waypoint button to mark specific points in the ride such as the start and finish of a climb. I think Sigma have a pretty neat device here which with a little more work will be really cool especially in the data analysis side of things.
What about the hotel arrangements this year? Actually, quite good thank you very much. This time, through the organization of Francesco, we are staying in a four star hotel on the edge of Lake Como. Much better than the supposed three star hotel outside Foix. And, this time I have a room to myself and I am not sharing it with 5 others like last and a certain someone who liked to sleep with the window wide open during the not 30 metres away from a 4 lane highway. Yes, it certainly was interesting last year especially when the lights suddenly came on promptly at 4 am race day. They all pointed their fingers at me but it wasn't me. I wanted to sleep until 5 am as I knew it would be a long day in the saddle and I needed all the rest I could get.
Start time tomorrow is 9 am so at least I don't have to get up so early it hurts.
Well, I guess I should trundle over to the finish line to see the riders come in for the last pro race of the season.
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| Lake Como, crazy weather and forecasts |
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| Francesco and Team CSC mechanic Alejandro Torralbo looking over the bike |
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| Team CSC mechanic Iñaki Etxeberria giggling over the weight of the bike before washing it |
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| Fabrizio Macchi and myself after lunch |
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17-Oct-2008: Confusion reigns supreme, weather wise that is. We left Switzerland this morning and the temperature was a chilling 6ºC (42ºF). It was windy and overcast. We made the slow drive from Neuchâtel to Italy winding our way through the Alps. Just before entering a 17 km tunnel, the mountain tops were shrouded in mist. After we exited the tunnel, we were greeted with bright sunshine and a cloudless sky. The temperature on the other side was a balmy 22ºC (72ºF).
Previously in Neuchâtel, the weather has been mild and then wet. Wednesday, I rode up Chaumont to get some climbs at 10% slope. My legs felt horrible from the fun and games from the night before riding in the dark. I misjudged the temperature out and was a wee bit over dressed. Such are the joys of cycling in the fall. On the way down the mountain, I was speeding along the long straight stretch at about 74 km/h. Last year, I wouldn't have dared to try that with the problematic front wheel. This year, I wasn't worried with the new Reynolds MV 32T ULs. At least I know I can brake with them.
Coming into a right hand turn at the bottom of this long straight away, I started to brake about 300 m from the turn. As I got closer I squeezed even harder to slow down. This was the first real test of the brakes and wheels at high speed and it feathered into the braking to make sure I didn't over do it. About 50 metres from the turn I heard a loud crack. I didn't know what it was from but I was still upright and moving into the corner.
I wind my way down the hill to the bus stop. I stop to let the traffic pass before making my way down into the heart of Neuchâtel. I look down at the trip computer and see no speed or cadence. It is in sleep mode. I figured that the magnet had moved because of the centripetal force. I stop the bike and get off to go adjust the magnet. What I see are a couple of plastic straps holding what used to be the base of the trip computer sensors.
Some how the trip computer sensors had been sheared right off along with the magnet. I looked at the spokes to make sure they were okay and everything was fine in that department. I guess I had better fire the idiot mechanic who changed the batteries on the computers that morning before the ride and who most likely didn't tighten up the computer when he put it back on the mounting bracket. Oh, right, that idiot was me.
At least I know that the Reynolds MV 32T ULs are a really strong wheel set given what just happened so I needn't worry there about the strength and resilience of wheels.
Well, 400€ later, I know have a new trip computer on the bike, the new Sigma Rox 9.0. Still trying to learn its interface which I hope isn't too hard as I will be able to record some of the trip on it. It comes with a USB cradle allowing you to download the trip data to your computer. Hopefully I won't bugger up stuff so much that I cannot get some interesting data. Hopefully tomorrow when I do a light ride, I can master the computer. I will need to take the manual with me to make sure I clear and calibrate things correctly.
When we arrived at Lake Como, we dropped by the Team CSC hotel to say hello to the mechanics. They were amazed at the weight of the bike saying, "Illegal, illegal!" referring to the 6.8 kg UCI weight limit. Ah, the joys of not being bound to that silly rule!
Francesco and I met Fabrizio Macchi who was 4th in the Beijing Paralympics this September in the track cycling for lunch. He is a one legged Olympian who is riding a P3 Track.
Getting ready for Sunday is difficult as online weather casts have the temperatures on Sunday being between 5ºC(41ºF) and 10ºC (50ºF) but temperatures here are feeling like late summer. Luckily, I have packed both warm and cold weather gear with me. I forgot to pack some wind block shoe covers and so we stopped at Sunsole SRL here in Como, the local Cervélo dealer. They were closed at the time and they were nice enough to open their doors to allow us to pick up the shoe covers and a bicycle pump.
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| Hurtling down the mountainside in the Dark |
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| Victor grinding away up to La Vue-des-Alpes |
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| Victor arriving at La Vue-des-Alpes last night |
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| Somewhere in the blackness is Victor on the final climb into Neuchatel |
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| Victor upon our safe arrival back into Neuchâtel |
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15-Oct-2008: Yes, this will be a trip to remember. First it was the cold, then the ride in the thunderstorm and hail. Now pitch black.
Francesco and I drove from Italy to Switzerland Monday to do some work here at our Switzerland office. It was a long drive starting at 5 am in the morning. Yesterday, Victor and I rode in from Neuchâtel to La Chaux-de-Fond. Let's say I wasn't planning on riding in the early morning as part of this trip as I was without any lighting accruements to alert drivers of my presence. Now that it is fall, and we are high in the mountains, the sun doesn't rise as early as we would like to be able to make it to the office by 9 o'clock or so.
So, I head out to meet Victor at his house where we then start riding off to the office. Most of it is up hill going with slopes approaching 10 or 11%. Victor has been riding to the office quite frequently lately and is getting much better in climbing. It wasn't too long ago that when he saw a hill, he would immediately appear to be moving backwards.
I found the climbs good as I need to get used to climbing at 8 to 10% for long stretches. For about 4 km during the climb up Madonna del Ghisallo on Sunday, the slopes will be between 8 and 10.6% with a short stretch at 14%. There are two stretches up Ghisallo that are at 10%, so I better get some pratice on them otherwise I may find it hard going.
I also have been riding with the Reynolds MV32 ULs here as the roads in Switzerland are near perfect. The bike handled well going up and going down the mountains.Braking was smooth and even, even in the moist morning air. Couldn't say the same thing about the wheelset I brought over last time.
I would trundle up the mountain to loosen up the legs after being off the bike since Saturday and would wait for Victor to catch up. I think this version of the bike is much easier to climb with than last years. Shaving that extra weight off does make a difference on all the slopes whether they be steep or shallow.
Lars, our new product manager, was able to eye up the bike late yesterday after he arrived from the Netherlands. Unwittingly, I had parked myself at this desk as it was one of the few empty ones I could use. I wonder what he was thinking regarding the bike build?
When it was time to pack up and leave for Neuchâtel where we are staying, Victor indicated we should leave around 6:10. Then he announces 6:20 at the latest. Well, I am ready at 6 pm. Victor still has his pained look on his face as he stares into his laptop. The time of 6:10 pm passes, then so does 6:20 pm. I look out the window to see the sun slowly approach the mountains near the French border thinking to myself that this is a really bad idea leaving this late.
Finally, Victor stirs from his slumber at his laptop and starts to change into his cycling gear around 6:30 pm. I think we finally get underway about 5 or so minutes later. It is still daylight, but, I wonder for how long.
We head out from La Chaux-de-Fonds and hit the first climb we have to do back up to La Vue-des-Alpes. Off on the horizon to my left I see a full moon and hope that the cloud cover doesn't block it out as neither of us have any headlights to illuminate the road ahead. Victor does have a flashing rear light which is some consolation.
My legs feel heavy from the morning ride and it takes awhile for them to loosen up and get into a good, even climbing rhythm.
I wait for Victor at the top of La Vue-des-Alpes. Surprisingly he is only a couple of minutes back. We gather our wits at the top, write out our Last Will’s and throw ourselves down the side of the mountain which has the wonderful 10% slope we climbed earlier in day, albeit in daylight.
I have no idea how fast we were going. I suspect it was at least 40 or more km per hour as the wind was whistling through the straps of the helmet without abandon.
We safely make it into the village of Valangin at the base of Chaumont, which is the final climb we have to do to get back home safely. Luckily we only have to climb up the outside edge and not to the top as that would not be fun as Chaumont is a 10% climb pretty much all the way to the top.
About half up this final climb we have to negotiate through a single track road as one side of the road is under construction. Here is Switzerland, they use stop lights to control the flow and allow a certain amount of time to pass to allow the cars in the single track to make their way through so we can’t dilly-dally along otherwise we are going to have nowhere to go when the opposing cars start barrelling down the single track.
We somehow make it through just before the light changes to allow the opposite traffic into the breach only to find ourselves in total and utter darkness. No street lights, no cars, no moon. We are in a stretch of the forest where the canopy of the trees covers the roads completely. Also, the moon is on the other side of the mountain at the moment, so even though it was full, it wasn’t going to help.
We precariously grid up the mountain towards Neuchâtel and finally we make it. Victor and I part ways just before his house and I try to find my way to the apartment we are staying at. Now, this was just as much of an adventure as the climb up the mountain as I am still riding around in the dark, albeit with street lights, but in an area which I don’t know at all. I can only fuzzily remember lines on the street maps.
So, I head off on the route I thought I took in the morning. I see the train line which indicates to me I am close. I go under the train tracks and down a hill only to see off to my left what looks like water. And it looks too close. Now I figure that I am definitely lost. I cannot see any familiar landmarks which I could see from the apartment. I believe I should since I am on a side of a mountain and they were below the apartment.
I circle back and try another route. I don’t recognize a thing on that route at all. I am lost. Even the iPhone can’t help as for some reason it won’t connect with the 3G versions of the service providers here. Otherwise, I could have used the built-in GPS to find my way home.
Finally, I throw in the towel and call Victor. Luckily, he left on his phone and he suggests I ride back up the mountain to his place and he will drive me to the apartment. Well, I go back up the side of the mountain to his house which has some nice roads at 10%, so I guess it was good practice.
We put the bike in the car and head off to the apartment. I show him the route I took and the point I turned around. All this time, he has a silly grin on face. He announces that I turned around too soon as the apartment was but 500 m further down the road.
Wonderful.
I can say that whenever I ride with Victor, it is ALWAYS an adventure. I almost think we should open a new line of business just for Victor. I think we should call it "Victor’s Crazy Adventure Cycling, never a dull moment!"
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| Riding in the Sunshine! |
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| Pino leading the group into the turn around point |
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| Now this is what the top of Tolfa is supposed to look like |
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| Riding up to Tolfa today with the group |
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10-Oct-2008: What a difference a few days and a head cold makes! So far this week, except for one day off because of the cold, the riding has been getting better and better. The winds have died down and the temperatures have been rising to seasonal norms.
I have also been able to get in some pretty good rides in the later stages of the week. The setup of the bike is where I am again comfortable riding without any significant pain in the upper body. it is amazing what a few mm will make in your ride. And, I have also been able to get in some really good climbs from a variety of different routes up to Tolfa.
Early in the week, I did a lot of solo rides at least 60 km long. They were usually in the late afternoon with significant wind. As per standard operating procedure, I chose the wrong direction to head out in. Each time I headed north with a tail wind. Coming back, I had a significant head/cross wind to contend with. They were good long rides where I had to do a lot of work which helped to improve my conditioning.
I also was able to determine what my threshold was for hydration during these rides. Luckily, the Gran Fondo has pretty of feed stations along the way at 32, 58 and 98 km marks. Just have to make sure I top up at the last feed station with water as you basically have to go 45 km from the last feed station to the finish. Luckily most of it is down hill with one small climb at the 126 km mark.
All the training I have been doing so except for the first couple of rides has been on Francesco's older DV46 clinchers. This puts the bike in the high 12 lb / low 13 lb range. The gearing is a 11/26 SRAM Red cassette. Even on the stretches where the road has pointed upward, I have been able to navigate the higher slopes on the 36/26 setup. For Gran Fondo day, I will have the KCNC 11-27 setup, so for the few really steep parts of the climb, I will have the reserve plus the bike will be at least a pound or more lighter.
Yesterday and today I showed up at the cafe to meet up with the group. Pino lead off the ride yesterday to the north which made it 4 for 4 in terms of the route taken thus far since Sunday. We started out with about 8 riders and met up with a group already out on the road thereby swelling to about 16 or 18 riders. Eventually the group split and I got caught in no-mans land between the two groups which was okay as I need as much work as possible. One rider sat on my wheel until we approached the turn around point where he joined up with the lead group that had already made the turn.
I waited for the group with Pino to arrive and headed back with them. Once we got back into the city, I broke off from the group to do a solo climb up to Tolfa along the northern most route. That climb ended up being almost 20 km up to La Bianca with the really steep parts leading into La Bianca. The slopes up that route were between 3 and 5% with slopes going into La Bianca hitting 12 to 14% in spots.
Upon arriving at the top, I headed back to the piazza where I ended up on Saturday. This time it was bright and sunny.
In the end, I did 100 km yesterday with the last 40 km up and down the mountain.
Today, I rode with the group and for todays ride, we did the same route up to Tolfa I did on Saturday. This time it was sunny and warm with not a cloud in the sky! And, I was able to acquit myself quite nicely going up the mountain. We started out with 9 riders of which 2 turned back before we summited. I was able to easily stay with the group even when the slopes hit 8 to 10%. The lower stretches were in the 4% range with the upper stretches in the 6 to 8% range.
Summiting into Tolfa, I was 4th out of the group and it was some of the younger guys who were lagging behind me. A lot different than last year were I was getting dropped like a rock on the climbs into Tolfa.
Now, descending that was a different story. There I couldn't even keep up with the group. I guess I still need a lot more practice in that art. Luckily, I chose the right route and eventually caught up with them right at the tail end. And the guys were somewhat surprised yet impressed to see me at the end.
I stopped by Roberto's cafe on the way home to have a double espresso. And much to my surprise he announced that I would have his company tomorrow. From what I understand since Roberto broke his collar bone earlier this year, he hasn't been on the bike much and has since retired to run the cafe. So, this will be a real treat.
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| Riding in a thunder storm |
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| A local inhabitant |
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| Sanctuary at last just before the duluge |
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| Ah yes, that white stuff is all the hail that accumulated in about 15 minutes on the west side of Tolfa |
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04-Oct-2008: I keep asking myself, I came all the way here for this?? To say the least, the weather this first week has been quite interesting. Cold, windy, sunny, warm, windy, and now a torrential downpour.
Francesco and I started out this morning south toward Santa Marinella in nice mild weather. However, looking off to the west out over the Mediterranean Sea, dark, ink black clouds were gathering for a trip eastward.
I hoped that I would be able to beat out the clouds and make a full trip up to Tolfa from the south along a route I had not ridden before. Except for the clouds, there was little wind and the temperature was around 17ºC or around 60ºF. It would be a nice climb up to Tolfa.
At the start, Francesco turned back to go home as his knee still gives him trouble. For the most part these days, he sticks to riding on the flat terrain around Civitavecchia which going either north or south, you can ride and ride without having to stop. I will say that that is one of the most enjoyable aspects of riding here. Once out of the city, you ride and ride and ride. Roundabouts are the greatest things since sliced bread. Back in Toronto, there isn't a stretch where I can ride without either hitting a stop sign or traffic light. Yesterday, I rode north for 25 kms without stopping once. It certainly is a different type of ride that I am used to where I cannot even rest for a bit. I am not complaining but I does take a bit getting used to.
The same was true today. Once I started up towards Tolfa on my own, I nary met a car going up or down the road. I did, however, meet a few cattle grazing on the side of the road, one of which is to the left here. The climb itself was 23 Km which to-date is the longest climb I have ridden. It is even longer than last year's climb up the Col du Port de Balés. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the slopes as the slope computer wires had dislodged from the computer holder and I will have to get a new one. I can tell you that the speeds up the mountain were anywhere’s from 12 to 18 Kph. I was able to maintain a good speed up the mountain and didn't feel out of sorts during the climb either.
Also, I think I finally have got the bike setup properly. During the first week, riding was somewhat painful for my arms and shoulders. Yesterday, I came to the conclusion that the seat was too low and using a tool from Fit Kit Systems, Fit Kit Seat Height/Positioning Tool, I reset the height of the seat. Foolishly, I had used a piece of tape on the seat post and ignored the tool when I first set up the bike when I arrived last weight. If we can, we will try to visit the same folks that helped set us up last year in Pisa. I really would like to see if I can fine tune the position to make it even more enjoyable riding the bike.
About three quarters the way up the climb, I could see the lightning and hear the thunder rolling in from the west. Off to my right up the hill was Tolfa. Even thought the bike is not a good electrical conductor, I still didn't want to be out on the road when a lightning storm was dancing all around me. I didn't want to be a lightning test dummy for Phil on the bike.
About 4 km out, it started to spit rain. I was hoping I could make it up all the way without getting soaked as it would be a cold long wait at the top for the rain to pass. Within the last couple of kilometres, it started to rain lightly. I hit the gas to try to make it to the main piazza and seek shelter before the real rain started. And I am glad I did. I made it there with a couple of minutes to spare. Sitting on a bench, on the outskirts of the piazza, it started to rain harder and harder. It also started to become windier by the minute to the point I needed to seek better shelter from the elements.
It was at that point I abandoned the ride and called Francesco for help. There was no way I was even going to try riding down the west side of the mountain in that weather. And luckily for me, I didn't.
Standing in a doorway, I was able to watch nature do its work. We had a combination of wind, rain and hail within the 30 minute period. I think they received more rain in those 30 minutes than they do for a least 2 or 3 months. Trees were bending over from the wind and the hail was accumulating on the ground. Being 15 minutes from the square going up the mountain would have been absolutely horrendous. Being 15 minutes going down the mountain would have been downright dangerous. As you can see by the fuzzy picture to the left, there was lots of accumulation of hail on the roads. We even saw one car that had slipped off the side of the road in into the ditch.
I really would not have wanted to have been caught in that either up or down the mountain. Interestingly while waiting for Francesco, I saw a couple of cyclists ride into the piazza. It must have been a nasty ride for them.
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| Up the mountain to ride with a friend |
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| Luigi Sisteli, my riding partner for today |
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| Luigi looks over my new ride for Lombardia |
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30-Sep-2008: Well, the training for Gran Fondo Giro di Lombaria started in ernst today. I met up with one of the pro riders I rode with last year, Luigi Sestili. I road with him locally here in Civitavechhia and Pisa last summer. Luigi had some tough training on the weekend riding 250 km with his team under the watchful eyes of Pino Petito, so today's ride was a recovery ride for him.
To make life easier for Luigi, I rode up the mountain to meet him in Tolfa where he lives. I got passed by a local rider partway up the mountain at about the 3 km mark. He moved off ahead but could only distance himself by about 100 m most of the ride up. I didn't push but rode a steady tempo as I had nothing to prove to catch him and overtake him. I know he kept looking back to see where I was and had the feeling that he was surprised to see that I was more or less keeping pace with him.
The more I ride up the mountain, the more comfortable I feel in using the 50-36 combination. Even when the slopes hit about 10%, it is still quite reasonable to spin along. Looking at the profile for the Gran Fondo, this gear ratio of 50-26 / 11-27 should be okay as the slopes are averaging around 8% with a few step sections at 12%. Back in Toronto, I trained on some hills which had steeper slopes of 12 to 14% on a 50-36 / 11-23 setup. It hurt, but was doable.
Even though Luigi and myself were crusing along at 28 to 32 km per hour, it is a really great experience to ride with a pro. If you ever get the chance to do it, you should jump at it.
I rode behind Luigi almost all the ride as only he knew where we were going as it was his training ride. I was just the turista along for the ride. You can learn a lot from such an experience.
One of the interesting things was while I freewheeled down the mountain, he pedaled all the way down. We didn't hit excessive speeds and we were probably were in the sub-50 km/h range. While I was in the drops, he was on the hoods. I suspect this was so he could increase the wind resistence to allow himself to spin the legs while going downhill. Remember, this was a recovery ride for him and he was trying to loosen up the legs.
Once we got back to the flats, he spun 95% of the time in the small ring. He kept up a pretty high cadence throughout while averaging the 30 km/h. I imagine that when we ride later on before the Giro di Lombardia, we will go a little bit harder.
You may be wondering about the leg and arm warmers. Temperatures are a little on the cooler side right now compared to summer temperatures which are usually in the sub-30's. Right now they are in the high teens, low 20s. And, if you are riding up a mountain, you want the arm or leg warmers as it gets cooler and cooler the further you go up.
It definitely is a nice time to ride as you don't suffer from the heat. You may need to carry more clothing with you, but, hey what did you think the pockets on the back of your jersey were for.
Tomorrow, I suspect I will ride with the group. This time I found the correct turn to the espresso bar and should be able to make there on time. I look forward to meeting up with some of the old guys to see if I have made any progress since last year. More later.
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| Finally, riding up the mountains |
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| Civitavecchia from 15,000 feet |
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27-Sep-2008: Italia! Finally, I made it here. Didn't have enough time to pack as I was working right up to the last moment. I didn't think I would be this hurried just before the flight as I figured I would have all the heavy lifting done before Interbike started. Silly me.
I must get the guys in shipping a case of beer when I get back. The new Reynold MV32T UL wheelset arrived Wednesday and they sent me an email in the early afternoon. I had put my old Reynold MV32T wheelset in the bike bag as I wasn't anticipating them being shipped to the office in time before the flight.
All I could do was briefly look at them and then swap them with the old wheels and zoom off to the airport.
It was really cool in that the flight path to Rome airport is just east of Civitavecchia and I was able to get some pictures of it from the plane. And then when we do land and go to the baggage claim area, I had to wait and wait and wait for the bike to show up. Francesco was left cooling his heels at the arrival area and my iPhone didn't have his number so I couldn't call him. Likewise, he didn't have my number so we couldn't let each other know what was happening.
Finally, someone shows up at the oversize baggage claim and I was able to gather up the bike and deliver to Francesco the most precious cargo, his Tim bits! Yea, he kinda grew found of them when he was in Canada last December.
Surprisingly, the weather here is cool and blustery. For that, I could have stayed at home!! Oh yea, no mountains. Guess it was smart to bring along the cool weather gear.
I missed the group ride yesterday because I missed a turn to the cafe so I road alone for a while and up the mountain to La Bianca which is just outside of Tolfa. We took the new wheels to Bici-Mad where we had the bike re-assembled last year. We put the wheels on the scale and they came in at 965 g!! And these are stock wheels. Previously, we were building out wheels ourselves to get the weights we were achieving.
When we glued the tires on, added the KCNC 11-27 cassette and slap them on the bike, the weight comes in a 5.205 kg (11.48 lbs). Yes, that is much heavier than the build earlier this year, but in this case we don't have some of the lighter parts with us. Where we are heavier is in the tires, pedals, cables, stem and water bottle cages and chain rings.
This build is about 423 g lighter than the bike configuration for Etape last summer and based on today's first ride, it will be a nice ride around Lake Como for the gran fondo Giro di Lombardia.
This time, I may forgo the 34 tooth chain front chain ring for the 36. It appears that the legs are even stronger this year than last even with all the fun and games renovating my condo. This morning I did the climb up to Tolfa, which is about 13 km, in about 50 minutes. The slope averaged around 7% with a few 9 - 10% sections.
So, maybe, I will be able to keep up with some of the locals this time round. I may even get to get some rides with some of the local pros over the next couple of weeks.
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| After the storms |
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| Roger and Victor on today's Donut Ride |
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23-Aug-2008: Finally, some warm dry weather in which to get ready for Giro di Lombardia. As you most of you have probably gathered, I didn't do the Etape this year. I didn't even do the company trip to Alpe d'Huez in July. I can say that I have been referenced in the New York Times by Robert Mackey, a New Times Reporter who did do the climb successfully this year! Guess that makes up for it.
So, I have transferred the circle on the calendar in July for one in October, the 19th to be precise. My goal, moon George Clooney at his villa on Lake Como!!
A month from tomorrow, I pack up and fly to Roma. I have been trying to learn Italian in my spare time but so far, that has been very difficult. I have picked up some but not enough. Hopefully, I will pick up some more there. I teach Franceso more English, he or his kids, teach me Italian. I think it is a fair trade.
As for changes to the bike, well, new wheels from Reynolds are on order. I hope these are the mysterious Black Ops wheels that were shown at Eurobike and Interbike last year. Right now with the Reynolds DV46 clinchers, the bike is hovering around 12.75 lbs or 5.78 kgs. The bike is handling quite nicely except for the creaking Nokon cables. They make it kinda hard to sneak up on people.
Because of the storms we have been having almost on a daily basis, my condo renovations and the work load this year, I haven't been able to ride as much as I would like. It may have been a blessing in disguise because when I do ride I am riding better than in the previous years before. However, I am about 2 or 3 thousand kms behind what I would normally have at this point. I know that I really have to start getting in more training on the hills between now and the end of September if I hope to even keep up with the old Italian guys I rode with last year.
It was good to ride with Victor, our CFO, again today. We haven't riden together since last year in Switzerland where he tried to get us killed in the farm fields. He is pictured at the left with Roger, the patriarch of the Donut Ride. I guess all that riding to the office and back in Switzerland is paying dividends as he was able to keep up quite well today. I remember times when he would have struggled mightily to keep up.
I hope to have more details on the run up to the ride in the weeks ahead. At least this time I know that I will have to take a good set of training wheels with me along with the ride day wheels. More later.
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| 9.94 lbs |
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| Yes, it reads 9.94 lbs |
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| Close up of the scale |
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| That's Frank, my cycling mentor |
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28-Apr-2008: Amazing, simply amazing! 9.94 lbs (4 508 g) and that is not even using the light weight Becker saddle! Now the bike really is crazy light!!
We finally got some SRAM Red to put on the bike. Chris, our special projects go-to guy, started re-building the bike earlier this week and we completed the build Friday night. It was Chris who helped out on the original build last summer.
So, we swapped out the stem, SRAM parts, brakes and stem preload. We also swapped out the pedals with an ultra light set from Aerolite Pedals. As an added bonus, Chris also used Power Cordz cables in place of the SRAM Red cables.
The vast majority of the web savings came from the SRAM Red components. Here are the weight differences:
| Component |
Force (g) |
Red (g) |
Difference (g) |
| Front derailleur |
86 |
58 |
-28 |
| Rear derailleur |
175 |
153 |
-22 |
| Shifters |
334 |
280 |
-54 |
| Total savings |
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-104 |
For the brakes, we swapped the Zero Gravity Titanium version with the new KCNC brakes we got from Fairwheel Bike Boutique in Tuson AZ (you have to check out their website as this is a great place to get the parts we sourced in Europe last year). They are 12 g lighter, about $100+ cheaper and have really nice stopping power. They complement the KCNC cassettes we use as well.
The Syntace Force 99 stem was swapped with an Extralite Roadstem UL3 which saved another 12 g and replacing the stem preload with a Schmolke cap saved another 28 g. With the pedals and PowereCords added into the mix, we saved 183 g.
Of all the replacement parts, the only part that I am concerned about are the PowerCordz. I am not worried about the tensile strength of the cables but am concerned about the clamping of the cables at the brakes. With normal stranded metal cables, you only clamp the strand on one side of the bolt. With the PowerCordz, we needed to wrap the entire cable around the bolt to prevent it from slipping. That is a result of the fibre cables being sheathed in a plastic casing. This casing doesn't provide the same frictional resistance a metal cable does and it also compresses more than a metal cable.
On yesterday's Donut Ride, I made sure that I didn't need to brake strenuously. At least that was the plan. I did have one instance where I did have to slam on the brakes when someone stopped prematurely at a traffic light. I needed to hit the brakes real hard to prevent myself from slamming in to the back of someone. So, that was reassurring that the cables held and the brakes stopped really well. If you are using PowerCordz, I would love to hear your experiences with them.
It was a real treat to have the bike re-built for a visit from my old cycling mentor. That is Frank holding the bike on Saturday morning. I met Frank about 25 years ago when I was a co-op student during a workterm. In between talking about architecture, we talked about bikes and bike parts. Even today, we still talk about bikes and parts, but now mostly parts on my bike or the other Cervélo models.
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Comments from Andrew Rockwell
Wow! Nice work Matt! Light AND functional!...most people would have sacrificed one a bit for the other, but you accomplished both, much like how the bikes you design are both light and functional (unlike some of the superlight competition!). Keep it up!
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Comments from Fernando Goncalves
Matt:
Glad to see that you made it all the way on the Doughnut Ride last Saturday.
I too closed my eyes when I saw your sudden stop at the traffic lights. But, the machine came through.
Good show! 9.9 lb/5 kg unbelievable!
See at "bagel" shop this Saturday - weather permitting,
Nando (il profesore)
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Comments from George
Matt, great work on the bike! Love reading your blog and the mentions of the Donut ride. Looking forward to being home for a few days in the summer. Hopefully see you on the ride.
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Comments from Tighe Vroman
Matt, excellent work with the bike, it is VERY impressive. I noticed the zero setback carbon seatpost and was wondering what kind it was? I am looking for something similar. Enjoy your rebuilt ride!
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Comments from Tighe Vroman
Matt, excellent work with the bike, it is VERY impressive. I noticed the zero setback carbon seatpost and was wondering what kind it was? I am looking for something similar. Enjoy your rebuilt ride!
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Comments from Eric
I'm not buying it--
First- find me a sram red front derailleur that comes in at 58g -- yet to find one.
Next- shifters do not weigh 280g- more like 290-297g-- if you use btp carbon shifter clamps you can drop it to 270g.
Finally- power cordz-- you shouldnt be concerned at all with the brakes-- it's when your cordz for the shifters SHRED because the holes sram made are too narrow for the cordz. I tried it twice- after a little while, your shifting (more noticeable w/ the RD) will deteriorate. You'll be adjusting the RD cable tension quite a bit.
I have a scott cr1 frame that I've gotten to 11.98lbs with my 970g wheelset. Looking at your build, I'm having a hard time finding the over 900g. you'd need to drop that thing under 10lbs.
Unless there's no front wheel on in that picture and you're riding it as a unicycle.
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| Finally, on the road again |
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19-Apr-2008: Finally, back on the bike, only problem is that the body isn't ready for it. Almost two months after my last ride on the trainer, I finally made it out on a donut ride. Two months of renovating my condo and work has taken its toll. Question is which body parts to start coughing up.
It was good to get out on the road again and see some old faces even if it was on my R3 "beater bike". Darko, who is a past provincial champion, was out. Darko, while racing in October in Trinadad-Tobago crashed heavily and broke his hip. He crashed in the same manor that Gerard did last year, on a descent and a patch of dirt. He spent about 4 months on the couch gaining about 40 pounds. But once we as able to get mobile again, he was able to lose it.
One of his comments was quite humerous. He said that he has to learn to suffer all over again. Well, I can probably loan him lots of that as I was suffering plenty given I was over dressed once again and my body hasn't completely recovered from all the fun and games painting and putting in the final wood floor in my condo.
Slowly, but surely, parts are being swapped out on the R3-SL. We have been able to swap the stem and brakes. I am looking forward to testing out the next KCNC brakes. On the SRAM Red front, we are still testing them out on various bike configurations. One issue that has cropped up is with the front derailleur. The connection to the braze-on isn't the best and a shim needs to be used to properly connect it. SRAM has acknowledged the issue and is coming out with a shim in the near future.
Ironically, everyone on the donut ride was asking me about the 7 lb bike featured on velonews.com recently. One bring difference between that bike and our build is that we are using all production parts, nothing custom made. While that bike was using many of the same parts, they were custom made and were lighter in most cases. Our goal was to build a bike from readily made parts and accessible parts. Well, that is the theory. Getting some of the parts such as the Scapula or Schmolke handle bars is a matter of waiting sometimes. But, they are listed on many web sites for purchase.
As for the wheels, they are still in development and hopefully we will be able to get the production versions in the near future. Yes, the waiting is tough at times, but in the end it is always worth the wait. Now to go rescue the R3-SL from the engineers before they decide to put it in a test rig.
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| Hurry up and wait! |
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24-Feb-2008: Well it is less than a month to spring. Yea, right! Temperatures here in Toronto have been absolutely frigid for the past month. In a few days, the temperature is supposed to drop to -20ºC (-4ºF). To make matters worse, I am ensconced within a guest suite in my condominium building while my condo is being renovated. The cat and I are ready to kill each other and we have only been in here a week.
So, now I am waiting for bike parts (SRAM Reds, Speedplay Nanos and Reynolds BlackOps wheels) and my condo. Not sure which I want most, the bike parts or my warm cozy home?!? So, when I read about your pain in the Cervélo Forum waiting for your bikes to arrive, I share your pain.
This past week was a tumultuous one with the renovations and everything. Wednesday morning as I wandered up to my condo to get the morning papers and I smelt smoke just outside of the guest suites. I knew that if a fire was in the building the alarms would be going off like crazy so thought nothing of it. Little did I know I was smelling the smoke from a fire that was at that moment destroying a piece of Toronto's and Cervélo's history. Duke's Cycle, which has been a Toronto institution for over 94 years and one of Cervélo's first dealers, was going up in flames.
It was where I bought my first Cervélo, a Team Soloist. The really hard part of it was knowing a lot of really nice people would be out of work just as season was about to begin. Gary Duke, the owner of the store, mentioned in local papers that they would be rebuilding the store. Let's hope so.
Here is a link to the local reports: Fire ravages Queen St. W.
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Comments from Rick
Matt,
Where are you? The donut was real killer this past weekend. Got dropped both days.
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Comments from Andy Scott
Toronto ??? Just rode up Cypress in warm , lovely rain ....Can do it all year long . You should consider moving over here . Real estate is really cheap now here ......Take advantage . As a matter of fact , Cervelo should move their operation to Vancouver ........I volunteer to be their 'old fart test rider" . Just buy me new tires once a year ..........lol.
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| 188 Days and counting... |
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| The date on the calendar circled! |
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01-Jan-2008: It is 188 days until the L'Étape du Tour 2008 and it is snowing like stink outside. Sure does make it difficult to start training.
Last year, I did a 160 km ride on New Years day. This year maybe 30 km on the trainer.
As for the mental training, I just received The Road to Hautacam from the folks at Cyclefilm. This year's preview of the ride is a few magnitutudes better than last years version, and that one was pretty good!
This time around, the movie is about 18 minutes longer and has some really good bonus features!
Mike Cotty does the ride again this year and narrates it as well. He does an excellent job of pointing out the nasty bits of the ride and how to best prepare for it. The first part of the film glosses over the first 90 or so kilometres of the stage. Not too much to be learned in that part of the ride since it is mostly flat with just a couple of bumps in the road. From the 90 km mark on forward, things go skyward.
And, what goes up, must come down. What I didn't realise when I looked at the profile was the length of the descent from Tourmalet which is about 35 km. Yikes! Mike points out that the descent is longer than usual and your will need to prepare for it as the body will be in a tuck position for quite a long time and things like your neck will start to stiffen up.
What are the really good bits? Well, they have two really neat bonus features this year. One is a sportif survival guide on how to prepare for Granfondo or Etape like rides. The second bonus, which is pure gold, are a couple of bullet cam segments of the full ascent and descent of Tourmalet and the ascent of Hautacam.
What these two segments will do for you is help you visually prepare for the ride especially if you cannot pre-ride the course. Even though the landscape will be radically different from that of the video (they shot the video just days after the routes were announced and there is snow in them thar hills!), you will be able to get an idea of the route and its twists and turns. That in the end will make it easier for you on ride day since you will be somewhat familiar with the course. If you are doing L'Étape du Tour, this is a must have. |
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Comments from Paul Ralston
Nice to see how 'pumped' you are for L'Etape 2008... I hope the accomodation will be better for you in 2008 and, if I get my entry accepted, maybe our paths will cross.
If you wanted to make an even larger Canadian size impact on L'Etape, how about a special edition T-shirt or even better, a cycling shirt for all Cervélos that ride L'Etape?
Hell, some marketing whizz-kid could find a way to integrate the "é" of Cervélo into Etape??? Be careful not to piss off those nice ASO people though ;-)
TTFN
PaulR
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Comments from Martin
very good idea
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| 82 km/h in a 60 km/h zone |
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| Roger, Paul and Francesco outside the bakery |
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24-Dec-2007: Well the year is coming to a close and it usually time to spread some cheer with firends. Saturday, I had arranged to take Francesco, who is here all month at our office, to the bakery to meet with Roger, the padrone of the Donut Ride. Francesco was a little late getting to my place as he was pulled over by one of Toronto's finest for doing 82 km/h in a 60 km/h zone. Whoops!
Luckily for Francesco, the police officer was in a holiday spirit and let Francesco off with a warning.
Being quite late, we boogied up the highway to a point north of the city to be able to follow the route in reverse. Roger had threatened to do the ride so I thought it best of follow the route in case we came across him. Luckily, he drove to the bakery and we were able to catch him there along Giovanni, otherwise known as "Poppa".
Francesco and Poppa traded riding stories in Italian. Roger entertained Giovanni and Paulo, Francescos kids, while we waited for some of the diehard riders to show up. And soon they did. The temperatures were good for riding but the roads were horrendous being a mixture salt, dirt and water. The only way to ride those kind of roads is to build yourself a "beater" bike. Paul, who lives near the bakery, has built up his Soloist Team with tiny little fenders to cut back on the grime. Seemed to do the job as his jersy was still pretty clean. Nice beater bike!
Hopefully, the next time Francesco comes over, it will be in warmer weather. I was hoping he bring with him the warm weather from Italy, but he couldn't fit that in his suitcase.
All the best to everyone over the holiday season and have fun riding to those downunder where the weather is perfect right now. |
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Comments from kju
"have fun riding to those downunder where the weather is perfect right now."
It's going to be 38.C on Christmas Day. I'm going out in the morning on a short group ride at 7.30am (I have no kids. How did you guess?). It'll be pretty warm by 9.30am, and then a bit too hot for the rest of the day.
I miss Spring and Autumn.
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Comments from Rick
Matt,
I did 140k, Joe was in torture mode. My legs hurt. 3c for boxing day. Are yo coming out?
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| The View From Here |
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| Dec-16-2007: Yes, that is a cross country skier down there and lots of snow on the window sill |
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15-Dec-2007: This time last year, I was happily riding in the somewhat warm weather of Toronto preparing to do L’Étape du Tour, which was some 7 months off, doing hill repeats up Mount Bayview (not really a mountain; in fact not even close, just a long hill). Well, so much for global warming, I haven't been outside on the bike since mid-November. Ouch!
I don't know what is really worse, waiting to place the SRAM Red order or having to ride indoors on the trainer. I know it is hard to get motivated to ride using the trainer and, given this time the idea of trying to haul more saps over to France to do L’Étape du Tour, I don't know if not being able to get in road rides will allow me to help them succeed.
It probably won't be for a couple of months before we know how many we can actually enter into L’Étape du Tour. If the number is limited, I will try to make sure that the others get the chance to do the ride. I will then have to try to pick another challenge to test the bike out against. I think I hear the old Italians I rode with calling out my name.
About the only good thing about this kind of weather is that I don't have an excuse to go riding and it means I get more work done. Bad for me, hopefully good for you. As we continue to grow, we have to expand and adapt some of our internally developed systems. Twelve hour days have become the norm over the past few weeks while working on them. The goal of this work is to provide better service and support to our customers even as we expand. You should hopefully see the results of some of this early in the new year.
And the hurry up and wait for newly announced parts to become avalable is almost painful which I know some of you have voiced in the Cervélo Forum while waiting for your new bikes. I really would like to get a set of the new Speedplay Nano pedals. And I also can't wait to see the Black Ops Reynolds wheels. About the only thing I can say is that you can't rush quality.
Mind you, what may be even more frustrating is that I won't even be able to test out the bike if these parts do arrive early in the new year as they are predicting an ugly winter this time around. Cold and snowy. That picture at the left is my view while on the trainer. The only good thing about that is I get to watch all those outside freeze while I ride 40 km standing still in the comfort of my own living room. |
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Comments from Martin
Hi Matt,
I will be joining you next year for the l'étape du tour with my brand new R3. I booked the ride with vélo.gc.ca. I think they still have some places.
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| To answer a few questions |
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14-Nov-2007: Well, the planning for L’Étape du Tour is well underway. Well, sort of. I am trying to corral as many people from Cervélo this time into doing the ride as possible. Misery loves company.
Since the ride is again in the Pryrenees next year, I think it is prudent to get some hotel rooms this year for before and after the ride. I really didn't enjoy the ride back to Neuchâtel in the car and I have the feeling neither did Gerard. Franceso, our European sales rep, has said he will start looking for rooms for us now. Our registration will probably go through our French distributor who will have a booth at the pre-race expo.
Jamie S asked in an earlier blog if he should reserve a room know. Well, the best answer to that is explain the mechanism for L’Étape du Tour. Early in February, application forms will be published in a French cycling magazine, Vélo Magazine. If you don't live in France, you probably won't get the magazine by the time the registrations have been closed within the five days of publication. Your best bet is to go through one of the agencies listed on the Etape web site on the registrations page. Usually these travel/tour agencies have all inclusive packages while in France, so the need to find a hotel room is probably not necessary.
Last year, we didn't book ahead, hence the cramped quarters where we shared the room with our French distributor. Hopefully this upcoming year, Gerard will be able to do the ride and complete it. Also, we are trying to get a mate from Australia, Aaron to come and do the ride. At least next year the timing of the ride is perfect as it will be right in the middle of a two week school break for him. The plan is to let Aaron act as the engine on the first part of the ride. He is a big strapping boy who should be able to break the wind for us quite nicely.
One way to prepare for the ride is to get your hands on The Road to Hautacam from cyclefilm.com. Back in April, Simon in a blog comment, provided a link to their video trailer for the Etape Du Tour 2007 Reconnaissance DVD. I watched the trailer and immediately ordered the DVD from cyclefilm.com. I watched the DVD about five times to understand the route. It gave a pretty good idea of what to expect especially on the climbs and the descents. This years DVD, I understand, is twice as long. I strongly recommend that you get this DVD if you are planning on doing the ride next year.
Another question from a blog comment is where Nenad is from? Well, we are still trying to answer that one ourselves. He has a nasty habit of trying to crash his Prodigy every now and again. At least he has the common sense to hurt himself and not the bike! Maybe we can get Nenad to do Etape as well.
As for the wheels, well this time I am going to try to use the Reynolds. Hopefully their Black Ops wheelset will have been out (they are supposed to arrive early 2008) and should be sub-1000 g. Nummy! I really, really want to try riding the bike with a lightweight wheelset which also can brake on a dime. In the meatime, I am trying to get my hands on the new SRAM Reds and still get in a few more rides before the snow flies. |
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Comments from Nick
Try to get your hands on some Lew pro VT-1's - they are supposed to have excellent braking, stiffness comparable to lightweights and weigh ~880 grams.
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Comments from Not So Lightweight
Matt,
I see a lot of time and effort has gone into your planning. Your dedication is commendable. I do feel however that your friends may possibly band together and give you a fair kicking :) You seem to have your equipment dialled in to the last gram, may you have a great ride through the kilometres of climbing, but not too good, as I would hazard to guess, your proposed L'Etape partners may not be mountain goats :)
kind regards
A Not So Lightweight Rider
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| Decisions, decisions |
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| An interesting sight from a ride this week |
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26-Oct-2007: Well, the 2008 L'Étape du Tour was unveiled this week in Paris and it sure looks interesting! Compared to this past Étape, this one looks almost easy. Probably not. Next year there are two climbs: 23.4 km @ 7.5% and 15.2 km @ 7.2%. The first real climb doesn't start until the 93 km point.
It almost looks too easy given the reasonably flat first part, but the speeds will be pretty high and I would suspect that the 9000 strong participants will be bunched together. There looks like a couple of smaller climbs which could help break up the pack and stretch things out.
So, the question is, L'Étape du Tour in July or GranFondo in May? This year it would be nice if a group of us could do the ride, Gerard especially! I know he wanted to do the ride this July, but his body still hadn't recovered from his crash at the GranFondo in Monza in May. Who knows, maybe we do both! Rumour had it that the Étape for next year was going to be L'Alpe-d'Huez. That would have been really nice as L'Alpe-d'Huez is only a 3 hour drive from Neuchâtel. Pau  Hautacam is at least an 8 hour drive. For me the most painful part of the weekend was the drive home as the legs just ceased up in the car and there was no easy way to loosen them up.
Whether it is Étape or GranFondo, this time I will take a two sets of wheels with me: Reynolds DV46C clinchers (for training) and Reyonlds MV32T tubulars (for the final ride). I hope to have a setup where the bike will be in the 10 pound (4.6 kg) range.
I know some people have questioned my decision to use carbon clinchers, but, with a couple of glass induced punctures, the rims are no worse for wear than standard metal rims. Comments have centered around the bead edge of the rims being damaged once you do puncture. The folks at Reynolds assured me that during all the races with the DV46Cs on Team Health Net, they didn't encounter any problems when the riders flatted. Ty Daugherty is Reynolds Cycling sales rep in Europe and he commented that he is riding the MV32C in the south of France and he hasn't had problems even with the really bad roads he is sometimes riding on.
But what has impressed me the most and actually saved my bacon is the braking power. I had a puncture this last Sunday on the way to the Donut Ride. I ran into problems changing the tube (stupid valve was broken, what is it with me and valves?!?) and had to go back home for another tube. Since I was horribly late for the start of the ride, on a normal day I probably would have abandoned the ride but Sunday was such a gourgeous day (24ºC ~ 78ºF). I wasn't going to give up a chance to ride what would probably be the last warm weekend here in Toronto.
So, I scream off to Granma's Bakery as fast as I can up Yonge Street which is an uphill ride most of the way. I was cooking along in the mid 55 km/h range (30 mph) at one of the few flat/downhill portions when I approach an intersection. Ahead of me in the opposite turning lane, a little old lady decided to make a left turn right into my path. I knew the Reynolds were good braking but didn't know really how good. I stopped a couple of metres (about 7 feet) from her passenger door screaming at her at the top of my lungs. She didn`t even notice me until she had completed her turn and wondered what all the commotion was about.
That picture to the left would have been me T-boning her car if I was using the carbon wheels I used to use. I came across the street art on Wednesday on my way home from training on Mount Bayview. I had a silly grin on my face the rest of the way home because of the creative street artist!
Happy Halloween folks. |
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Comments from A
Matt,
You mention that you were doing 55km/h at one stage... I was not aware that Yonge St had a downhill that long and that steep in order for you get up that kind on momentum. Either that or tree limbs were getting ripped off with the howling gale :) Can't wait to hear what you decide to do. I would say "be a real man"... ride both :)
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Comments from chris mullington
55 km = 34.175347222225 miles
kickin'!
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Comments from PaulR
See y'all on l'Etape 08!
By the way, stick around for a couple of days and chill afterwards rather than trying to drive off with stiff legs - a few days to chill out with a Pelforth or three and less pressure fueled ride up Luz Ardiden should fix things. Oh, and if you were in the same hotel as Gerard near Pamiers this year, you really need to let someone else do your travel arrangements. ;-)
Ciao
PaulR
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Comments from Jamie S
Where's the best place to stay when riding the l'Etape 2008? And should I look into reserving a room now?
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Comments from larry mac
hey!!! matt come on the next ride for you should be tour transalp.de check it out its a killer but you can swing an entry i'm sure. forget the cookies/cakes and pound the pavement before we get the snow later lar
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| Full Circle |
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| The three amigos: Matt, John and Nenad |
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| Nenad with his special addition to his R3-SL |
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09-Sep-2007: Well, I just finished a soggy Ride for Karen. As a group, we were able to raise $228,000 for children with cancer. As Kirk mentioned to us at the start, today's cold and wet conditions are nothing to what a child has to face when confronted with the deadly disease. There were over 400 of us today.
I would like to thank T.J. Zuber for making the largest donation. We will be contacting T.J. shortly to get the size of the kit we need to send out.
As for the ride, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. Unlike Gerard, I don't exactly like riding in the rain. Something about not be able to see as someone elses rooster tail is in your face and soggy shoes. It is the later that I really don't like. No exception here even though I did try to prevent it with neopreen booties. At least this time, unlike last year, I didn't break anything especially the wheels.
The Reynold's MV32T wheel set were something else. They braked really well in the wet conditions, coming pretty close to the same stopping power as with normal metal rims. At no time did I feel apprehensive about braking. I did keep my distance as I don't have that much experience in riding in big groups when it rains. The size of the fast group I was in was probably around 125 riders. Luckily we had a police escort closing down the intersections.
Across the smooth roads, the wheels handled really well and across the rough roads and train tracks, they didn't have the slightest problem. They worked so well, that one of my water bottles popped loose as I was going over the last set of train tracks. Luckily I made the save as it was the same bottle I used during Etape in July courtesy Alex at SRAM who you will see shortly on a video we will be posting soon on Gerard's test ride of the new SRAM Red.
You may recognize Nenad from earlier pictures taken in Switzerland. The chap in the middle is John, one of our engineers, who has had a big hand in designing the R3, SLC-SL and R3-SL. While he didn't ride with us, he did act as a "wrench" in one of the support vehicles. John is a very good rider and used to race when he was younger in Europe before he became a mechanical engineer. It is always good to have the engineer around who designed the bike to fix if need be.
The weight of last years Ride for Karen bike was 5.55 Kg (12.26 lbs). This years bike is 5.24 Kg (11.55 lbs) which is slightly less than the weight of the Etape bike which came in at 5.63 Kg (12.41 lbs). So, now it is hurry up and wait for the new components to come in to see how light we can get the bike now. |
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Comments from nick
could you post the specifications for the 11.55 lb. bike?
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Comments from Tim Slocombe
I want to congratulate you on raising so much money for such a worthy cause, it is not often that we as human beings seize the opportunities we are given to help make this world a better place for people who are in unfortunate circumstances. I had such a chance last year when I took part in the Calgary to Austin Peloton Project (CTAPP) 30 riders in teams of six, ride in six hour shifts and rotate through the 24 hr clock in a 9 day relay ride from Calgary to Austin Texas. 3800 kms.We ended up raising over $500,000.00 CAD for the Wellspring Foundation, which is a hospice that helps siurvivors of cancer and their families get back to "normal life" after treatment. It was the most amazing experience of my life, and I would strongly encourage anyone who would like to get involved to go to www.cancervive.ca
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Comments from Allen Foster
Hi Matt,
First of all well done in raising such a large amount of money to fight such an awful disease.
I have to say the Cervelo kit you guys are wearing looks great, are there any plans to offer this for sale in the éStore?
Thanks Allen ( who also rides an R3-SL )
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Comments from kaleb
hi matt,
I wish i knew what your european trip was all about. i only asumed it was personal and for adventure. but now i know and respect you for that. keep on going on.
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Comments from Sasha011
Hi, just one question: Where is Nenad from?
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Comments from Rocket_Ronnie
wow this weight is amazing!! much more to me because my bike hav 9kg , I dont hav right now money for any really light components maybe after I end studies and go to work now I can only imagine how great feeling is ride at such light bike and specially on cervelo frame :) Your bikes are really nice very similar to mine but only one difrience is weight hehe Gratulations keep good work :) I hope in far future when my bike will thin we meet on the road. ahhhh LEletape....(dreamer)
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| The Cycle Begins Anew |
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01-Sep-2007: Summer is almost over and what is that smell in the air? Trade shows! And you thought the quest for the light bike is over. Far from it!
Trade shows, depending on your point of view, you either love 'em or hate 'em. If you are one of those poor sods that have work the booth all day long, you probably hate them. But, if you are attending them or watching from afar, you love them. This is the time of year to start planning what you want to purchase for the upcoming season and I am no different. Over the next couple of months, everybody will be announcing something.
The first of the big tradeshows is Eurobike where we introduced the new RS frame on Thursday. I am stuck back here in Toronto and have to follow the new offerings online. Some of the component manufacturers have updated their web sites with their new product specs, like SRAM. For the other components, I have to garner what I can from the online magazines.
So, the shopping list has been started! By swapping a few parts here and there, we figure we can get the bike down under that magical weight of 10 lbs (4535 g). Our initial build weight, if you remember, was 4691 g, so we really don't have to loose too much. Here is the initial list of components to be swapped:
| Brake levers |
SRAM Force |
SRAM Red |
334 |
280 |
54 |
| Rear Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
SRAM Red |
175 |
153 |
22 |
| Front Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
SRAM Red |
85 |
58 |
27 |
| Pedals |
Speedplay zero |
Speedplay Zero Nanogram |
143 |
124 |
19 |
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| Stem |
Syntace F-99 |
Extralite RoadStem UL* |
103 |
87 |
16 |
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Weight savings |
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138 | * suggested alternative from blog comment
And, not all the products have been announced or made their way to the internet so this list will probably evolve over the next couple of months. If you know of some components we can use to save weight on, let me know in the comments and we will look into trying to get them.
Next Sunday is the Ride for Karen where all this light bike really started. If you can, please make a contribution for this worthy cause which helps fund camps for children who have or are recovering from cancer. If you do make a contribution, I will match your contribution with the same donation. Click here to make a contribution (all donations are tax deductible and you will receive a tax receipt by email shortly after you make your donation). As a bonus, whoever makes the largest donation will receive a Ride for Karen kit which includes bib shorts and jersey. |
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Comments from Tim
I see that Lightweight has introduced a new full carbon rear derailuer at Euro bike. You may want to check that out......
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Comments from lbarber
That new Lightweight mech will only set you back 750 Euros.
Small price to pay for next years amazing 9.9lb French mountain shrinker!
-Lee Barber
Rochester, NY USA
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Comments from Jason
Your current wheel set of Front wheel Zipp 250 w/ Marwi Ti spokes, American Classic hubs @ 970 grams total is not light enough. Why not go with the LEW Racing VT-1. They guarantee a weight of under 880 grams. That is 90 grams of rotating mass you are saving. They are a bargain at 6000 USD. Especially with the Canadian dollar so strong... it is like saving 30% off compared to back in 2004.
Also the extralite stem is no the lightest stem money can buy. The AX Lightness Zeus is the lightest if it's available. It was unveiled a while back. Maybe with your industry contacts you can find one. 110mm - 7° - 63 grams (with other screws) - 600€
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Comments from Andrew Gillman
I believe the Pedal Soft stem is lighter at 50g. The company is located in CA and should be at Interbike. I am sure he will have a few to take home. The are not even very expensive. He has minimla advertising and a PRODUCT focus.
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Comments from Bart Anatra
AX Lightness Orion Brakes would drop another 79 grams or so. You should pick up a set. They are 95g for the pair. They are pricey, but I don't think that is an issue on this bike is it?
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| Back in one piece |
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| Etape du Tour video on cervelo.tv |
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06-Aug-2007: Made it back in one piece. Also returned with an unrequested parting gift, a cold! Luckily that showed up the day after L'Etape. The bike made it back okay even after some of the local Swiss teenagers used the bike bag as a make shift bench on the train as they were out club hopping in Zurich.
Now that I have been back a couple weeks and over the cold, I have been able to ride the bike here in Toronto. One immediate observation is that it is much harder riding here than it is in Europe at this time of year. Even the Pryenees in France are somewhat easier than riding here. You may think I have lost it, but, the simple fact is that here in Toronto the humidity is quite high. It may not be as high as in Florida, but, whoa nelly, it is thick at times. Even when riding at speeds of 40 km/h, I wasn't cooling down like in Italy when it was 5ºC hotter and the speeds were 45 km/h.
I have started doing the hill training again and now it is much easier to do after having riden a few hundred kilometres of a real mountains in Europe. I have switched wheels from the HED Bastogne back to the Zipps 250s we used on the original bike build. It is really nice to climb with that setup and next time in Europe, I am thinking of taking them to try out on a couple of the bigger climbs like Monte Serra. Maybe then I can keep out with the kids!
As promised, here is the part list of the bike used during L'Etape:
| Component |
Manufacturer |
Weight |
| Saddle |
AX-Lightness Phoenix |
67 |
| Seat Post |
Schmolke TLO 250 |
85 |
| Bars |
Schmolke TLO 44 C to C |
148 |
| Bar Tape |
Cervélo |
59 |
| Fork |
THM Scapula Tuned w/ cap - Cut |
245 |
| Crank |
THM Clavicula |
412 |
| Chain Rings 50T/34T |
Carbon-Ti |
98 |
| Brake levers |
SRAM Force |
334 |
| Rear Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
175 |
| Front Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
85 |
| Cable/Housing |
Nokon |
107 |
| Front wheel |
HED Bastogne w/ Challenge tubulars |
860 |
| Rear wheel |
HED Bastogne w/ Challenge tubulars and 105 12-27 cassette |
1390 |
| Brakes |
Zero Gravity 0G07 |
174 |
| Chain |
KMC X10 SL |
223 |
| Bottle Cages |
B-T-P |
30 |
| Pedals |
Speedplay zero w/ custom 45º Aluminum bowtie |
143 |
| Headset |
FSA Orbit IS Carbon |
89 |
| Headset Spacer |
FSA Carbon 10 mm |
5 |
| Stem |
Syntace F-99 |
103 |
| Bolts |
Ti replacement bolts |
2 |
| Seat post clamp |
Cervélo |
9 |
| Frame |
Cervélo R3-SL 56 |
785 |
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Total weight (in grams) |
5628 |
The net difference in the final setup with the different wheelset and small parts swap (chain rings and seat) was 937 grams. I suspect that the Shimano 105 cassette, which was the only one I could find in Italy at the time, added big time to the weight.
What's up next? Well, we will keep looking at different components like the SRAM Red and suggestions that some of you have made. It will be interesting to see if we can get the weight of the bike down even further with some of the new component offerings while maintaining the ridability and safety of the bike.
Yes, the rider is a big part of the equation but having a really good bike under you that you can trust to do what you need it to do helps both mentally and physically. And it is never too late to do such rides like L'Etape or Granfondo. Looking at the start list for L'Etape, almost half of the riders were in the 40-49 age group. So, it is never too late.
As for the riding, until Nenad gives me back my R3, I will have to ride the R3-SL and use it to get ready to go back to Italy either late this fall or early next spring. Next big ride will be the local charity ride, Ride for Karen, where all the crazy light stuff got started (any donations for this event would be greatly appreciated, click here if you would like to sponser me, I will match each donation you make).
After that, most likely the Granfondo next May. From what Gerard has told me of the climbs, they are much steeper but shorter than the climbs of L'Etape. In an upcoming blog, I will give you some tips as to how best prepare for such an adventure.
Finally, we have posted the video taken from L'Etape on cervelo.tv and no I didn't turn the lights on!! |
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Comments from Bart Anatra
I noticed you were using Nokon cables. I have heard they hurt performance and are not a good product at all other than improving braking performance. The shifting I hear is worse, and that they require constant adjustment from the aluminum rubbing against each other. Any truth behind any of that?
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| 09h 11' 07" |
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| Here is the prize! |
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| At the start |
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| Some interested spectators - goats on the mountainside watching the parade |
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| The view from the first climb Col de Port |
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17-Jul-2007: Race done! 09h 11' 07" is my time. I finished 1124th position overall (out of 6125 participants) and 413th in my category (out of 3104 participants) (trip computer showed 8h 44'). Just as a comparison, Greg Lemond had a time of 08h 41' 16" coming in at the 812th position overall and 258th in his category which was the same as mine.
I can certainly say that I am happy the ride is over. The last three kilometers on the last climb, Col de Peyresourde, were very difficult. No matter what climb I was doing, the bike climbed like a dream. I keep the gear in the 34-27 and just ground it out in a steady tempo. On every climb I was passing people and not just a couple, dozens and dozens! It is a testament to the design and engineering of the bike. On the descents, it helped me overcome some of my descending fears as it handled extremely well, cornering very precisely through the tight switch back corners. I knew I could make up time on the climbs and loose some on the descents. Usually it is the other way around, but as I become more and more comfortable descending unknown roads, my descending will get better. As the day went on, my descending fears were subsiding and I was not using the brakes as much. Also, the thought occurred to me, the faster I go, the faster I can get off the bike!
When we drove to get to the race, we found it blocked off 5 km from the starting line. So, we pulled over into an empty parking lot and got the bike out. I quickly calibrated the slope computer and rode off to the start line. I waited there for about 20 minutes for the start and precisely at 7 am, we were off.
The first 100 km of the course, which included the first two climbs, flew by in just over 4 hours on the trip computer. Just before the HC rated climb, Col du Port de Balès, I looked at the trip computer and did a quick calculation based on the climbing speed of 10 km/hr and realised that I wouldn't finish the climb for at least 2 hours. That was the slowest 20 km I have ever ridden! The only saving grace, is that the descent would chew up massive amounts of roadway very quickly. But, you really needed to be careful in descending. One poor rider needed some serious medical attention after he had crashed into some concrete bollards that were lining the side of the road on the descent down Col de Portet d’Aspet. I just hope he was okay.
The first part of the ride was cool and overcast. That changed mid-morning and we lost the cloud cover. Thankfully, the temperatures didn't rise into the 30ºC range on the day otherwise it could have made for very interesting and hard riding. It was very hot as it was and the need to hydrate often was paramount. When ever I spotted a public water fountain at the side of the road, I would always top up the water bottles. Through the race, the organizors made sure that the water fountains were announced to allow you to get water. While these stoppages impacted the overall time, they were important to do.
Another thing was picking the riding line. Whenever I saw shaded areas of the road, I would take that line. Riding through the shaded area provided instant relief from the sunlight. It may have been for only a few seconds, but going from pocket to pocket of shadow helped to regulate the body cooling.
Towards the last 25 km of the ride, people at the side of the road would spray or pore water over us just like you would see on TV. And speaking of spectators, this was a regular work day, and they lined the roads in each of the small villages we passed through. The were clapping and cheerings us on with "Allez, allez, allez!"
One of the strangest things on the ride was the erie silence of people riding up the side of the mountains. You didn't hear any talking, just pedals, chains and the rythmic breathing of each rider suffering in their own way up the side of the mountain.
Another strange site were the people either walking their bikes up the mountain or lying on the side of the road in the shade thoroughly exhausted. It was difficult to tell if they were waiting for the broom wagon or just trying to get their second wind. I only stopped once to let my feet rest for a few seconds. I knew it was important to keep the legs moving otherwise they could tighten up real fast and that would spell disaster.
The feed zones weren't too frenzied but as the day wore on, the stations were more and more crowded. People were definitely using them as a rest station, sometimes lingering too long at the tables drinking or eating thereby preventing those waiting behind from getting water and food. And, the stations are very well stocked. The sports drink they were using was very good. I don't know the brand of it, but it has the color of ice tea but tastes like peaches. It instantly reminded me of Roberto's Peach Ice Tea.
Finishing the ride was a bit different. I would see a rider in front of me and would think that if I would overtake him, I would gain a position. Then someone would pass me, I would be thinking I was loosing a position. It wasn't until we were on our way home that Gerard pointed out that finish position wasn't based on the people you passed, it was based on total elapsed time from the time you cross the starting and finishing lines. Through the last five kilometers I just hammered it as best I could given the 50-12 I was using. It was rather amusing that 3 kilometers before the finish line there was a small hill to climb. I said to myself, "Hey, the profile didn't show this!". But, anyways, I got out of the saddle and soldiered up the hill. Once the 1 kilometre to go banner was visible, that was when I got down into the drops and let'er rip! Poor Gerard and Chris! They had been waiting at the finish line waiting in the seering sun to catch me coming in and I go by like Fabian Cancellara! Don't know how fast I was going but, I was passing people coming into the line. It was kinda cool to do for someone who doesn't race.
The trip home was long and tiring and the legs were stiffening up sitting in the car. An amusing moment was when we stopped to get something to eat and drink. I get out of the car and can barely move. Now, one of the goals was to survive the ride. That I accomplised. Never did I think I would get run over trying to cross the road because the legs were paying me back big time for the fun they had just gone through. I try my best to hobble across the road while Chris is beside himself laughing warning me of the oncoming cars. Not exactly the way to end the ride getting squashed like a bug on someones car grill walking across the road.
Now, I have to start packing to go back to Toronto. I will be very interested in riding the bike back home now to see how it feels there after having riding in Switzerland, Italy and France. When I get back, I will spec out the bike one more time with the final components used on the ride and their weights. |
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Comments from Nenad
Hey congratulations Matt, now you don't ever have to subject yourself to a future edition of l’Étape du Tour. BTW, technically, I did more than just keep up with you up Chaumont and beat you to the top. Just sayin' ;-)
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Comments from victor
Congratulations Matt, we are proud of you. I have some bengay available is you need it for your sore legs :-)
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Comments from Tom
Congratulations, Matt. Thems some k's and vert meters! Now you MUST put me on your "do not kill" list. Get yourself home and we'll go attack some of the mighty peaks of Ontario.
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Comments from Adrien smith
congrats, sounds like wuite the feat, but i also have to note that its the body not the bike, sure the bike helps a bit, but you werent passing people just becasue of your bike.
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Comments from Jerome
Well done Matt, how impressive. 9 hours on the bike...woaw.... I am definitely not going for a ride with you ever again.
It's also nice to hear that you enjoyed your stay in beautiful Europe, you will always be welcome. Cheerios - J.
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Comments from Lund
Way to go! Sounds like a great (difficult) in the saddle. Best way to end a trip like that is to hammer in fast!
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Comments from Mark
Congrats, Matt! You're build up the last few years has been incredible. Nice work on the training, tracking of components, building, and keeping us all in the loop.
I hope the Europe trip has been everything you've wanted and deserved. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
Cheers, Mark ("Intern")
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Comments from Allan Goldbach
Well done indeed!!
I am sore just thinking about eight hours on the bike.
Allan
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Comments from cis
Awesome Job Matt. Let me know if you ever need to do any other prerace riding in Pisa and i will surely join you again. Let's start planning how we can get back there...
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| Start time is 2 hours away |
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16-Jul-2007: The start of this years L'Etape is two hours away. For some reason, the lights in our room came on promptly at 4 am. Why I don't know as Gerard really doesn't like to get up early and Chris doesn't seem to either. But on they came.
It may not be a bad thing as we need to be at the start line promptly at 6:30 and we won't be able to get close to it by car as they have closed down the surrounding streets. The start of the race will be cool and should warm up to around 31ºC (89ºF). Not sure what the winds will be like but I am told we may have a tail wind.
We will have to get Gerard up soon, to get us to the start line and for Chris to find a spot at the start to get this on video. It will be interesting to see where they pop up along the course. It will be like a game of Find Elmo for me.
Months of planning and bike building have now come to the culmination and we will now see if it was worth all the effort. We should know in about 14 hours or so. |
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| Bib Number 189 |
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| My name and bib number on the official start list |
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15-Jul-2007: Well, I am in officially in this years L’Étape du Tour. Earlier today we went to the official sign up area in Foix to get my bib number and timing chip. Yes, my application did make it through and was I surprised to have such a low number.
The officials pointed out to me who has the bib number 1 this year: Gred Lemond. Very interesting.
The start tomorrow morning should be very interesting in that there will be plenty of people behind me who will want to get to the front in a hurry. I will have to keep my line on the right and go my own pace otherwise if I try to keep up with the lead pack, I could blow up real early. I think Chris and Gerard are privately taking bets as to how far I will get.
You should be able to follow some of the action tomorrow on the official site. In the past you can follow the competitors during the race on the official web site, L’Étape du Tour.
And, there should be plenty of interesting video of this little caper which we will post on cervelo.tv. Stay tuned it should be interesting since we are kind of low on gas for the car. Will it be 196 km or many more? |
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| Foix: 24 hours to go |
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| At the French border with Gerard and Chris |
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| What awaits in the distance are the Pryrenees |
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15-Jul-2007: Just over 24 hours to go before the start of this year’s L’Étape du Tour. We left Neuchâtel mid-afternoon yesterday and arrived here in Foix just before 10 pm. Both Gerard and Chris, our videographer, traded driving chores. We were met by Olivier, our French distributor, who I had met one week earlier at the distributors meeting in Pisa. Given that Foix is a small town and there are more than 5,000 people starting the race plus the race organization, hotel rooms are at a premium. Last night six of us shared the one room. So, to say that things were a bit cramped was an understatement. Right now, I am sitting in the hallway of the hotel typing this blog entry so as not to get throttled by the other five in the room. Also, as Phil has pointed out in previous trips to the tour, the internet connection here is flaky at best. And the dog guarding the main floor of the hotel is just as nasty. Makes for an interesting experience.
The weather for tomorrow is quite a surprise. The forecast is for 29°C (85°F) both at the starting line, Foix and the finishing line, Loundenvielle. If that holds up, it may not be a heat draining ride that everyone fears. The winds, however, seem very strong this morning and the temperatures are quite cool. I am glad that I brought along my wind breaker which I intended to use on the descents. I will probably need it for the start tomorrow.
Later today I will be getting my starting number and tracking chip. I honestly don’t know if I am officially entered into the race yet as I have not received any confirmation from the race organization. Olivier assures me that as long as they received the application via fax, I should be in. Alternately, we can still get in since not all of the slots have been used. I am not sure what number I will have at that point. So the adventure to the starting line is still not over. The rest of the day should be an interesting one. |
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| Four days to go |
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| By the original Roman town settlement of Civitavecchia |
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| The final setup for L'Etape |
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13-Jul-2007: Sadly, I had to leave Italy to begin the trek to this years L’Étape du Tour. After a couple of days rest Sunday and Monday, I hopped on the bike again for a couple of days hard training with Pino.
Tuesday, we did a little "off roading" on one of the country roads. It was a gravel road which swings by the old Roman town settlement. Surprising, the ride was really smooth. Pino, on his Soloist Carbon, commented on the harseness of the road. My only problems were minor gearing issues as I had switched wheel sets for the ride which had different cassettes. On this ride, you certainly didn't want to be using tubulars!
Wednesday, my last day in Civitavecchia, was a 110 km fast paced ride. We started with the group at 8 am from the Capocino bar and head south towards Roma for about 40 km. We then circled back towards Civitavecchia going east and then north through the rolling hillside. This will be very similar to the kind of terrain I can expect on Monday. When we finally got back into the city, Pino took me on one last 10 km climb and this time I had no problem doing the climb. He started the climb from a different approach so I wasn't sure of where we were going. It wasn't until half way through the climb I began to recognize features. It wasn't going to help as Pino was pushing me hard going at a pace of 20 to 25 km/h with slopes varying between 3 and 8 %.
Being properly fitted to the bike made the climb much easier this time even at this faster pace. And the legs still felt good. Now, on Monday, I definitely won't be doing a pace like that up the mountains. The strategy there is to go at a comfortable pace up the mountains and stick behind someone's wheel on the flats. No pride here folks. Just survive and don't get caught by the broom wagon.
Wednesday night, I took the night train back to Switzerland. It was like something out of a 60's movie as the train was at least from that vintage or older. I was just able to squeeze the bike bag into the berth and nap most of the night from Roma to Zurich. Upon arriving back in Neuchâtel, it was rebuild the bike for one last training ride up Chaumont using the final configuration.
As I was having braking issues with the carbon wheels, Gerard decided that I should get a wheel set from our Spanish distributor who handles the HED wheel line. I will be using the HED Bastogne aluminum tubular wheel set. I was also finally able to ride the bike with a 12-27 gearing. I rode with Victor, Nenad and Travis of which Nenad was the only one to be able to keep up with me. Mind you he is 19 years my junior so he should be able to. Travis, one of our engineers, was using a conventional gearing ratio and not having ridden much over the past couple of months laboured up the mountain. We had to convince him it was worth it since the view was spectacular during the sunset. Victor being Victor really laboured up the mountain but for him it was worth it since he was able to speed down the other side like a madman.
As of right now, I still don't know how I will be getting to Foix. I believe the travel details are still being worked out. Chris, our videographer is here and will be going with me to capture it on film! And, I will try to provide updates on the weekend if we can find a good internet connection. |
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| Pisa-Riding with the Pro's |
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| Luigi and Rino, my training partners this week |
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| The view from Monte Serra before the descent |
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| Luigi on the podium celebrating his third place after race |
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| A sight I wasn't expecting, the bike on a team car |
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10-Jul-2007: Well, it is almost time to head to the Pyrenees for L’Étape du Tour. I spent the week in Pisa at the annual meeting with the distributors. Neuchâtel’s weather has not exactly been conducive for training being cool and wet whereas Pisa was hot and windy. Pisa also allowed me to train with the Aurum Hotels riders as they prepared for a race in Citadella. Both Gerard and Francesco were concerned that I get a good week of riding in with only two weeks to go.
On Monday, I was able to get fitted to my bike by Fulvio Valentini of Ergomotion Center in Pontedera. He specializes in fitting cyclists to their bicycles and has specialized equipment in his shop to do exactly that. First he determined my dimensions digitally and analyzed by body structure. That he placed my bike on a rig beside his custom sizing rig. This resembles a stationary bike except that he can dynamically change the position of the seat post height, stem and bar positions. He also has SRM cranks to measure your power as he dials in your position.
For me, he noticed immediately that I had set up the cleats on my shoes incorrectly. I did not have the cleats positioned so that the power was being transferred in the pedals and cranks fully. He moved them back 10 mm and redialled in my position on the sizing rig. Immediately the power increased without me really having to increase my effort. He next had me get on my bike. Oh was that a painful exercise. The bike felt totally wrong. He then took my bike and moved it to another rig which allowed him to transfer the measurements from the sizing rig to the bike. Once that was done and I got on the bike again, it felt very comfortable.
I rode on Wednesday with Pino and Luigi for 80 kms where we rode against a hard wind for most of the ride. We also were able to do some climbing and descending. This was important to give me totally new climbs and descent as that would be the only way to learn. I didn’t ride my bike that day as it was being used in the distributors meetings. I rode a stock R3-SL with my positioning transferred over from the new setup of my bike. The stock bike was interesting in that it was with a normal crank set and not a compact. I have only ridden my R3-SL using a compact so the climbing was a bit different this time. I was able to stay within view of Luigi on the ascents with Pino bringing up the rear. And the best part, my feet weren’t hurting as they had been during previous rides meaning that the positioning we had done earlier in the week was working perfectly.
I am almost tempted to convert my R3 back to a standard crank as it was a nice ride especially on the flats. The standard crank setup is well suited to the roads back in Toronto which are mainly flat. For power riding, this is a great setup and I was quite amazed at how easy it was to climb. The climbs we did really weren’t long as the ones I will be facing very shortly where the compact crank is actually very useful.
In the afternoon, Luigi and myself lead the distributors group on a ride which we were able to keep together for the first 40 km until Gerard decided to attack. Once that happend, it was ever rider for themself.
On Thursday, Pino planned a 160 km ride with two ascents up Monte Serra for his guys. He stated that after about 80 km, I would be in the back of the team car. I thought otherwise. Boy was I wrong and Pino right! When we started up Monte Serra, is able to keep up with the kids for about 500 metres and after that, I got dropped like a rock. These guys were going up the mountain as though it was nothing! Eventually, Pino had me grab on the car and I got dragged up the mountain. Once at the top, the view into Pisa was breathtaking and so was the descent. I was glad to do the descent since it allowed me to practice on a road I didn’t know. I was able to follow the boys for most of the trip down, but, they having done thousands of such descents before were able to descend with ease. I only over-cooked a couple of the switch backs but at no time did the bike feel out of control. The R3-SL goes down the mountains just as well as it goes up. Once down the mountains, the boys started motor pacing. This part of the ride scared the crap out of me as they were following the team car centimetres away from the back bumper and Pino was doing at least 50 km/h. After getting thoroughly dropped, I had my own motor pacing back to the boys by Pino. Unlike the boys, I was at least a metre away from the bumper as I was afraid of hitting a bad patch of the road. Only when I was thoroughly ensconced in the team car for the rest of the ride was I able to see that Pino was very careful where he guided the car to make sure they did not hit any really rough parts of the road. The second time up the mountain I was able to watch the boys go up the mountain at speeds of around 20 to 30 km/h depending on the slope. No wonder I was unable to keep up. By the end of the training session, the boys had ridden 180 km and at speeds of 60 km/h. Later that same day, they did another 60 km with the group. That makes for a long day in the saddle.
On Friday and Saturday I was able to ride again with Luigi and Rino. They were good training partners for the week and I was able to watch them race on Sunday in Citadella. This was a race for under-23 riders and was 170 km in length with some really nasty climbs in the last 70 km. Unlike the Italian National Championships a week earlier, this race had an attack very early on with one of our riders in the attack group. The rider was Luigi Sistelli who I had been training with over the last two weeks. This time I was in the car for the full ride and was able to hear over the race radio that Luigi had taken third place in the sprint at the finish. All in all a good week.
Now it is back to Civitavecchia for some final rides with Luigi before heading back to Neuchâtel and finally off to Foix for the start of L’Étape. There are rumours that our videographer, Chris Mullington, will be there to get it on video for all to see on cervelo.tv. |
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Comments from Jim
Your comments on standard -vs- compact cranks are interesting. After a few rides on bikes with 50x34or36 compacts I found myself not liking the big jump between the chainrings. As an experiment I set up my new Cervelo with what could be called a "semi-compact" 48x38 and am really liking it. The 38 is large enough to be useful in a race without being cross-chained all the time. The 48 makes it easer to get into, and stay in, the big ring. An 11T sproket in the back gives as much high end as I need.
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| What a wild ride! |
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| The start of the race |
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| Paolo Bettini chatting with Pino |
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| Up into the mountains we go |
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| Behind the race officials car |
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| Moreno working on the fly on Giordani Leonardo's bike |
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| The team car in action |
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03-Jul-2007: The last couple of days at the Italian National Road Championships have been a total blast. We arrived mid-day at the team hotel in Genova on Saturday after driving about 500 kms. After unpacking and having lunch, I was able to go on a short ride with the team for about an hour before coming back to the hotel. As the riders received a massage, I watched the mechanics prep the bikes for the race the next day. I am glad I did as I learned a few tricks that I can apply to my bikes in the future.
Next morning we were up bright and early for breakfast. The mechanics still had plenty of work to do transferring the riders bikes to the bus and loading the spare bikes and wheels on the team support car that will follow the riders all throughout the race. Shortly before the start of the race, we drove to the staging area at the start/finish line.
It was a total beehive of activity with teams, fans and media mingling together. This is the true beauty of cycling where the fan can get up close and personal with the teams and the equipment. This is probably the only professional sport where the fan doesn't pay an admission to watch. This is a true fans sport where the sport comes to the fan. Nowhere else can you get this close to the action.
The start of the race was quite interesting. Within the first few kilometers, Paolo Bettini had a mechanical problem (as it happens, the first of many that day for him). As he road back to join the peloton, he stopped by our car to have a quick chat with Pino, the director sportif of the team, who was driving the car. They chatted for a couple of minutes and Pino introduced me to him. Finished chatting, Bettini road back to the peloton.
During the first 100 kilometres of the race, the pace was pretty steady. It was totally amazing to see the peloton together as a pretty tight group going up the mountains and down them as well. Looking over to the speedometer from time to time, I was able to see that the riders were doing a pretty fast pace both on the flats and up the mountains. This wasn't an average Sunday ride in the Italian countryside.
In terms of our position within the support vehicles, we had a pretty good spot. We were the fifth car behind the official cars so from time to time I was able to get good views of the peloton as they rode under the hot mid-day sun. People lined the roads along the entire route. It was quite interesting seeing their reactions where they clapped for both the riders and the support vehicles.
Not knowing very much Italian, I just sat and watched. Pino and Moreno, the team mechanic, chatted away for the during the first hour or so.
Pino had arranged it such that I would switch with the Team Doctor when we arrived back into Genova but these plans were quickly changed. Just after we went through the start/finish area we came to a screeching halt. All the support vehicles were at a standstill and total pandimonium had broken loose. It was a crash!
I knew better than to move as I would have only been in the way, so I stayed in the car and watched things unfold around me. Both Pino and Moreno charged into action pulling wheels and bikes from the top of the car racing forward to the spot of the crash. As things started to clear up and team cars started to race back to the riders, I could see that it was one of our riders who had crashed. Initially, it didn't look pretty as the ambulance personnel were attending to Valerio Agnoli. Pino was still getting our other riders off to rejoin the race when Moreno hopped into the drivers seat to move the car forward. As he put the car into the gear, a spectator started to get into the back seat of the car where Moreno would normally be positioned. After a few heated words in Italian, the unwanted passenger got out the car and we moved forward to pick up Pino.
This is where it got really interesting. We were way behind now and had to rejoin the support vehicles. Pino started driving through the narrow streets of Genova with one hand on the wheel and horn and the other hand on the stick shift. We were doing at least 60 or 70 km/h with the tires squealing everytime we went into a corner. This was an interesting chase to catch up with the peloton as they themselves were moving at a fast clip of around 50 km/h. We were way behind with riders needing support and fast!
At no time did I feel unsafe. Pino is a very, very good driver, as are all the drivers of the support vehicles. They need to be as they have to take into consideration riders, other support vehicles and sometimes spectators.
No sooner had we joined the peloton, we were getting calls on the radio from the riders requiring assistance. The streets and the pace of the race were starting to take their toll on the bicycles. The most common ailment were parts coming loose. The next problem was with wheels. We weren't the only team racing to get to riders. Other team cars, with horns blaring, were trying to pass each other to get to their riders. The race radio was calling out team names on a frequent basis now. When a team car services its rider it needs to weave through the other cars to get back into its position especially if its spot is near the front of the support vehicles caravan.
I was able to stay in the car until the 140 km mark which for me was a bonus. When we came up to the team bus, I got out and the Doctor got in. I watched the remaining part of the race by the bus and witnessed a horrific crash at the corner we were stationed. At the time, four riders had escaped the peloton and had built up a lead of about 6 minutes. On previous laps, as they came through the corner they were drafting behind each other. This time, one of the riders was making a move on the inside or the corner with a 3 metre gap between them. A motorcycle with a photographer somehow got the bright idea of going between the riders and in doing so cut off the solo rider causing the rider to crash into the motorcycle.
Moreno, who had switched from the car just a lap prior to the crash, instinctly jumped into action to try to help him even though he was not from our team. No team likes to see this kind of crash happen. Unfortunately, the bike was too badly damaged and the rider needed to wait for his team car. In effect, his race for the championship was over.
As the race continued, riders were dropping from the peloton having completed there jobs for the day and the contenders kept grinding it out through the streets of Genova. The pack kept getting smaller and smaller as the close of the race drew nearer and nearer. The escape group was caught and another attack formed which in the end would contain the winner of the race Giovanni Visconti.
All in all it was an amazing day and a totally different way to view the race and a real privilege to be able to ride in the team car.
Now, I am off to Pisa where we are holding our annual distributors meeting this year. There I will train with three of the pro riders from Pino's team Luigi Sestili, Giordani Leonardo and Zampilli Rino. This is where we really start to test out both the bike and its rider in some 6 hour rides. |
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Comments from AS
A great race report Matt. I would love to know what you said to the unwanted passenger?
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Comments from Allan
Outstanding
i am jealous.
Allan
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Comments from peter donato
hey Matt, Peter here, I ride a 2000 Prodigy, and live/work down the street from Cervelo in Liberty Village.
I heard about these great postings.,...
we added one to our site, check it out:
www.mynextrace.com
Call my cousin in Civitavecchia, he's a cool guy, a Doctor too, might come in handy!
ciao,
Peter Donato
Founder
MyNextRace.com
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| What a week! |
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| The gang at cicli B-MAD admiring the bike |
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| At Roberto's bar with Francesco's family |
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30-Jun-2007: My gosh what a week! I did a really hard training ride in Neuchatel on Sunday riding 90 km up Chaumont in loops to get a total climbing distance of about 36 km. Was I tired after that. Then on Monday, I boarded a train to come to visit Francesco and his family in Civitavecchia, just north of Rome in Italy. That was a 10 hour train ride. I could have shortened the trip by taking a plane, but, taking the train allowed me to see the countryside and architecture much better. I was able to see some buildings that harkened back to my university days as an architecture student.
Upon arrival, Francesco took me and the bike to one of the local shops, cicli B-MAD, where they put the bike back together for me. At first, they didn't think it was a light bike. But once it was assembled and they each picked it up, the each couldn't believe how light it is.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I got to ride with Roberto Petito who lives and trains here in Civitavecchia. I was really apprehensive of riding with him for a variety of reasons, the main one being I didn't want to cause him to crash. That would have been a really bad thing to have happen.
And, no I didn't let my pride get the better of me as Gerard commented on in his recent blog entry. I knew better than to ride beside him all the way as that would really take a lot of energy and I didn't know how hard we would be riding of the terrain so I stuck to his back wheel. Going up hills I got dropped like a rock while Roberto easily ground his way up the mountain side. My legs still had not recovered from the ride on Sunday.
Coming down the mountain, I made sure I had enough distance between himself and myself, which really wasn't hard to do as he knows how to descend really well and I don't. I kept him within sight using his line and technique to guide me down the mountain side.
I learned more in that one ride about descending than I ever could have imagined.
Wednesday, Luigi Sestili from Aurum Hotels Cycling Team joined us on our ride. He is one of the riders of the other trade team we sponser in Europe. He is in his early twenties and kept up with Roberto stride for stride. Me, well, I got dropped on a the hills and descents yet again. One interesting descent was on road with the consistency of a giant cheese grator. As a result, I punctured my front tire. What made it even more interesting was Roberto and Luigi had long dropped me and were way up the road. A few phone calls later, Roberto and Luigi came back to rescue me. My trusty Tufo tire got used once again and saved my butt. I learned even more from Roberto on what to do after replacing the tubular after the puncture with your spare.
I successfully made it through that ride and back to Roberto's bar in Civitavecchia. Having one of his peach iced teas and an espresso is a great way to end a ride. And, I must say, both are well worth the visit to his bar as is his gelato which he makes himself. The picture on the left is in front of his bar with Francesco's family who hosted my visit.
Thursday was a group ride with a bunch of older riders. We started out from an espresso bar at 8 o'clock in the morning (gee, this sounds somewhat like the donut ride only with better pastries and coffee). Pino, Roberto's brother, is one of the ring masters of this ride. He used to be a pro rider as well riding with riders like Benard Hinault. He is now the director sportif of the Aurum Hotels Cycling Team. On this ride, I got yet another flat, this time on the rear wheel similar to the first flat I had in Neuchatel. Again it was the tubular valve but this time on a completely different brand of tubulars. For the final time, the Tufo saved the day. That is one souviner I will be enshrining at home when I get back. The wheels for the moment are in the bike bag until I can get Chris, our customer support guru, to look at them once I get them back home.
Today, I went with the group again but this time on a loaner set of wheels from Francesco, a pair of Reynolds Stratus Carbon clinchers. An interesting side note, everyone trains here on clinchers, so if you are thinking of riding in Italy, do as the locals do, use clinchers. More likely than not, someone will be able to help you if you do have a problem. I saw more riders on the road going the opposite direction than I ever have back home and this is during the week days. A good number of them are older riders, but, I did see the young stars of tomorrow training as well.
The wheels worked like a charm and I had good legs. Again, no problem riding on the flats. Going uphill, well, I was able to keep up with the group for a good chunk of the first few kilometers of the climb but they then put on the burners, and whoose, I got dropped again. At least this time I was the first to get dropped. Even though the climbing ability of the bike and the gear selection was perfect, I couldn't do justice to the machine. The other riders in the group have been riding these mountains for years. Me, just three weeks.
Today, I will be travelling with Pino and Roberto to the Italian road championships in Genova. On Sunday I will ride in the Aurum Team car on which I will have more on next week.
Ciao ciao. |
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| Stupid tourist tricks-what NOT to do |
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| That's Francesco to my left |
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| The picture that almost lead to our demise! |
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23-Jun-2007: Have been on a couple of interesting rides this week. One of them will go down in the "boy were we lucky" category.
I went riding with Francesco, our European Sales Manager, and Victor, our CFO. Francesco was an "elite amateur" in Italy and has bad knees, so we don't do the mountains. Victor was happy since he only likes descending them, not going up them. So, we do the flats through the farmers fields where the hills are molehills compared to the mountains surrounding Lake Neuchâtel.
It was a pleasant evening ride when we decided to stop for the obligatory "blog" photos. I should start charging for the pictures, but, I don't think that would go over too well. Hey, I have to pay for those bikes parts somehow!
While we were taking our pictures, a car approached on the bike path. Moving aside, we allowed the car to pass. Victor, being in the playful mood he always is in (strange him being an accountant, they are supposed to be dull and boring), decided he would take a picture of the car. Bad move.
The car suddenly stops shortly after Victor takes the picture and backs up. The car stops beside us and Victor immediately chirps out, "Oh, I think he wants to help take a picture of all three of us". The guy in the car spoke very little English and none of us spoke German (we were in the German part of Switzerland which just borders on Neuchâtel). I say, "My friend was taking a picture of me" and Francesco, pipes up, "we are just tourists.".
The guy and his passenger didn't look too thrilled. They thought we were taking a picture of them traveling on the bike path as they may have been using it as a shortcut Now, if we were somewhere else, say North America, this would have probably resulted in someone pulling out a gun and making our day! It wasn't until after the car had finally pulled away that Victor clued in and realized that had we been somewhere else, we would have made the morning newspapers. Ah yes, never a dull moment when Victor is around.
Next week, I am off to Italy to stay with Francesco for a bit. At least when I am there, I will be able to get the tire replaced and the front wheel trued. I really do miss the bike shops in Toronto. While the mechanics there don't require certification, they do know how to fix a bike. Francesco has also offered to enroll in a mini mechanics school where I can spend a couple hours a day learning how to fix a bike.
And the real treat of the stay will be enjoying Francesco's superb olive oil with pasta. As a secondary bonus, I will be riding with some neighbors of his who just so happen to ride on the Pro Tour. |
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| That was flat out nasty |
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| Putting the spare tubular on the rim |
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| The peanut gallery of Fabio and Gerard enjoying the entertainment |
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| A sorry sight on the edge of the bike path |
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17-Jun-2007: Well, today's ride was an interesting one. About 12 km into the ride, I noticed the rear tire going flat. So, we had to stop and see what the problem was. I tried pumping up the tire and continuing the ride but that didn't last long. Within about 50 metres the tire was flat again.
Victor, our CFO, was riding clinchers, so he couldn't help. Gerard didn't have one and Fabio, who was visiting from Boston for the weekend, certainly didn't have one with him. I was the only one on the ride that was prepared for this and got my first lesson of changing a tubular tire on a ride. I was hoping that this wouldn't happen especially if I was riding alone.
Being prepared certainly paid off, otherwise it could be a long walk home. In this case, if I couldn't get the spare tubular to work I was lucky in that I was only 300 metres away from a train station where I could have caught a train to take me back to Neuchâtel.
Given that I normally don't ride tubulars, this was an adventure I wasn't really interested in having. Thankfully, Fabio had changed a tubular before and offered some sage advise for when I glue on the replacement as he wrestled to get the old tire off of the rim. He suggested that I don't glue all the way up to the valve hole as it will make it easier to remove the tire when the time comes.
Once he had removed the tire from the rim, it was my turn. I wrestled with the spare to get it on the rim as it is a tight fit. Awkwardly I tried to get the last bit of tire seated and suddenly remembered how Thorben, one of our support specialists, had put the tubulars on my other rims. Bending over and pulling the wheel into my midsection, I was finally able to seat the remaining part of the tire on the rim while the peanut gallery were enjoying my wrestling match and taking compromising pictures of me.
The first attempt at inflating the tire didn't go too well. Fabio took a quick look at it and thought the value when mis-aligned when I attached the valve extender. He was spot on in his observation and after re-inserting the value in the rim, we tried inflating the tire a second time. This time it held all the air in it.
After getting sufficient pressure into the tire, we were able to continue on into our ride through the Swiss countryside. It is quite amazing riding next to the farm fields on paved roads that are used mostly for bikes paths and the farmers. It is a big departure from the riding through the urban environment of Toronto for 30 km (about 20 miles) to try to get the rural areas to ride unabated. Here we ride for about 5 km and wham!, we hit the bike paths within the farm fields.
I gingerly rode the bike the rest of the ride not wanting to corner to hard causing the tire to roll off the rim. Usually I am the one trying to put the hurt on Gerard and Victor, but this time I was the caboose.
I also rode through one rough patch of bike path very, very carefully as the tire I was using was a lightwieght Tufo which really wasn't intended for off-road riding. This patch of the path was for about 500 metres and contained very rough and broken concrete. Given that this was the furthermost part of the ride and no train stations close by and eagles hungrily circling overhead, I didn't want to have a second flat and become their lunch! |
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Comments from Jonesy
Hey Matt,
It looks like on the bottom picture that you have changed your bottle cages. Is this correct?
Jonesy
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Comments from Edward Bronson
Matt,
I always ride tubulars and I carry fix a flat with me. It will seal any puncture and you are good to go without ever having to change the tire. Just inflate and go,
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Comments from Matt (Webmaster)
Jonesy,
Sharp eyes you have. The Tune bottle cages while really, really light make it difficult to get the water bottles out of. Going up a mountain at 10% slope, I don't think you want to get into an argument with the bottle cages. Worse still, you don't want to rip them off the bike either.
Edward,
I am waiting for Pit Stop from Vitorria which is supposed to do the same thing. However, in this case, the probelm was with the valve. The tape they use to seal the value wasn't working and the air was escaping from the valve. The tire was perfectly good. So, in that case, the quick fix wouldn't have worked.
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Comments from Peggy O'Neill
Hey Matt - the caboose! What's up with that. I've never known you to be one to be at the back of the pack for anything!!!;-) Keep the pictures coming, they're great.
Peggy
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Comments from Wayne
You should tryt some of that Tufo tubular tape. I'ts the biz and you can ride flat out (sorry!) staright away. It is extremely strong too.
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Comments from Edward Bronson
Thats always a bummer when the vavle is done wrong. FYI I didnt want to wait for the scapulla fork so i bought the Alpha q gs 30 which when cut comes in at 275 grams.
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| You were wondering about the cost |
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| A stop in Enges while climbing east side of Chaumont |
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| Victor making his way into Enges |
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| Jerome on his first ride with his shiny new R3 |
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| Victor and Jerome in Enges |
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09-Jun-2007: Well, the first week in Switzerland has passed and we have gone from cool and wet to quite warm. Still haven't hit the really hot temperatures; I suspect those will be here shortly. I will need some of those to see how I do climbing a mountain in extreme heat.
I have been surprised at how easy the climbing has been with the new bike. Don't get me wrong, I am not alluding that I am ready to hit L'Alpe d'Huez and conquer it with ease. Compared to my R3, the R3-SL is a much nicer climbing bike, especially with a 12-25 cassette. The lighter weight definitely has a huge factor in this.
Tonight I went for a ride with Victor, our CFO, and Jerome, our accountant based here in La Chaux de Fond, up the east side of Chaumont through Enges. While Jerome paced Victor up the climb, I rode off ahead of them to test the bike on undulating terrain versus the consistent slope up the west side of Chaumont.
The bike was a dream to ride even up the steepest part of the climb just before the summit of Chaumont. A short streach of the rode hit a slope of about 18% for about 150 m (170 yards). That was the only part of the climb where in needed to get out of the saddle.
On the descent from Chaumont, Victor and Jerome screamed off the front whereas this time I brought up the rear. I really must say that this part of the ride is the most harrowing. I am getting better at it and not using the brakes as much, but I can certainly say that Victor and Jerome have me beat in that department, hands down.
Somewhere along the way down, the spare tubular came loose from under my saddle and it dropped on the road. A very nice Swiss woman saw this, stopped and picked it up. She then caught up with me and drove beside me indicating that I had dropped my tubular spare. Shortly after that, she stopped by the side of the road where she was kind enough to give me the tubular. You most definitely wouldn't see that back home. More likely than not, the drivers would be screaming at me to get off the road.
Now, back to reality. A lot of you may be wondering what the bike has cost. Well, below is the breakdown for the component costs of the bike. Brace yourself, some of these parts are not cheap!
| Component |
Manufacturer |
Euro |
US$ |
| Saddle |
Becker |
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$350 |
| Saddle |
AX-Lightness Phoenix |
380 € |
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| Seat Post |
Schmolke TLO 250 |
380 € |
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| Bars |
Schmolke TLO 44 C to C |
390 € |
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| Bar Tape |
Cervélo |
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$15 |
| Fork |
THM Scapula Tuned w/ cap - Cut |
679 € |
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| Crank |
THM Clavicula |
869 € |
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| Quick Release |
Carbon-Ti |
35 € |
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| Chain Rings 50T/34T |
Full Carbon (Manufacturer unknown) |
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$350 |
| Chain Rings 50T/34T |
Carbon-Ti |
360 € |
| Brake levers |
SRAM Force |
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$519 |
| Rear Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
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$175 |
| Front Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
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$65 |
| Cable/Housing |
Nokon |
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$105 |
| Front Rim |
Zipp 250 |
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$640 |
| Front Hub |
American Classic Ceramic |
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$110 |
| Rear Rim |
Zipp 250 w/ Marwi Ti spokes, American Classic hubs |
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$640 |
| Rear Hub |
American Classic Ceramic |
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$240 |
| Spokes |
Marwi Ti spokes |
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$168 |
| Brakes |
Zero Gravity 0G07 |
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$400 |
| Chain |
KMC X10 SL |
40 € |
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| Bottle Cages |
TUNE |
85 € |
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| Cassette |
KCNC 12-25 |
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$250 |
| Pedals |
Speedplay zero w/ custom 45º Aluminum bowtie |
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$305 |
| Tubulars |
Tufo |
100 € |
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| Headset |
FSA Orbit IS Carbon |
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$70 |
| Headset Spacer |
FSA Carbon 10 mm |
2 € |
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| Stem |
Syntace F-99 |
112 € |
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| Bolts |
Ti replacement bolts |
10 € |
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| Frame |
Cervélo R3-SL 56 |
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$3300 |
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Total cost |
3442 € |
$7702 |
There you go. The cost breakdown of the bike build. The final bike tally is 9200 € or US$12300. |
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Comments from Nick
I love the comment about screaming at you to "get off the road."
On my ride home one day I was waiting at a stoplight and some guy waiting behind me started laying on the horn and yelling at me to "get on the sidewalk." Well, thankfully a cop pulled up and asked me what was going on. I told the officer and the cop made the guy apologize or he would be ticketed for harassing me. It was the best ride home EVER.
P.S. I like that I'm limited to a 16,000 character response.
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Comments from Jonesy
Yah, I agree around my area people are like that too. One time I was in a bunch ride and this guy started swearing his head off at us. Luckily enough he was actually swearing at a policeman that rides in our group. Oh and boy did he get a surprise in the mail
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Comments from Kari Ala-leppilampi
Cost of the lightest bike on the planet $12300...
Coffee and buns at the cafe pitstop on hard donut rides all summer $250...
Maple syrup post ride recovery fluids $300...
Conquering L'Alpe d'Huez....priceless!!!
Living vicariously through you 'Mattster'...Kar & Frank.
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Comments from Allan Goldbach
As an accountant, looking at the costs is giving me the heebie jeebies.
It takes a free spirit to go down hill with no brakes.
Allan Goldbach
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| The adventure begins |
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| Final weight of bike build |
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02-Jun-2007: Well, the bike and other goodies safely made to Switzerland on Thursday. I think I left my body somewhere over the Atlantic. It feels like it is still in a different time zone. I was really happy to finally unload the 4 litres of Maple Syrup and 4 kg of brown sugar I brought over for Gerard and his wife. The Maple Syrup and brown sugar collectively took up half of my suitcase!
I was really worried about losing the bike and/or the Maple Syrup. I get the Maple Syrup from Clifford Foster, a farmer in Prince Edward County near where I grew up, who I have known since I was a kid. I consider his Maple Syrup liquid gold and I use it as my reward for finishing the long weekend rides using it on French Toast. I will go through at least 3 jugs of the stuff each year and each jug is 4 litres or about a gallon.
The bike made it through unscathed, thanks to the Pika Packworks bike bag, and I was able to successfully assemble it upon arriving in Neuchâtel. Everyone is amazed at how light it is. The configuration for riding here is slightly different than the initial bike build. We have changed a few components, one of which was necessary as it broke on the initial ride.
As for the component weights from the bike build, well here they are:
| Component |
Manufacturer |
Weight |
| Saddle |
Becker |
45 |
| Seat Post |
Schmolke TLO 250 |
85 |
| Bars |
Schmolke TLO 44 C to C |
148 |
| Bar Tape |
Cervélo |
59 |
| Fork |
THM Scapula Tuned w/ cap - Cut |
245 |
| Crank |
THM Clavicula |
412 |
| Quick Release |
Carbon-Ti |
46 |
| Chain Rings 50T/34T |
Full Carbon (Manufacturer unknown) |
62 |
| Brake levers |
SRAM Force |
334 |
| Rear Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
175 |
| Front Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
85 |
| Cable/Housing |
Nokon |
107 |
| Front wheel |
Zipp 250 w/ Marwi Ti spokes, American Classic hubs |
400 |
| Rear wheel |
Zipp 250 w/ Marwi Ti spokes, American Classic hubs |
570 |
| Brakes |
Zero Gravity 0G07 |
174 |
| Chain |
KMC X10 SL |
223 |
| Bottle Cages |
TUNE |
10 |
| Cassette |
KCMC 12-25 |
115 |
| Pedals |
Speedplay zero w/ custom 45º Aluminum bowtie |
143 |
| Tubulars |
Tufo |
260 |
| Headset |
FSA Orbit IS Carbon |
89 |
| Headset Spacer |
FSA Carbon 10 mm |
5 |
| Stem |
Syntace F-99 |
103 |
| Bolts |
Ti replacement bolts |
2 |
| Seat post clamp |
Cervélo |
9 |
| Frame |
Cervélo R3-SL 56 |
785 |
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Total weight (in grams) |
4691 |
The final weight of the bike was 4.7 Kg or 10.38 pounds. The net difference in weight is due to the grease and Tacx Dynamic Assembly Compound use during the build. Also, for those of you comparing the weights from an earlier blog entry, you will notice slight differences in some of the weights. These are a result of swapping out some of the bolts with Ti equivalents.
For the next six weeks in the run up to L’Étape du Tour, I will be using the Carbon-Ti chain rings, the AX-Lightness Phoenix saddle and a set of Zipp 280s built up with my old American Classic hubs from the Zipp 250s that I broke last fall. Amazingly, the bike still comes in just under 5 kg or 11 pounds with this new configuration.
Why Zipp 280s? Most people are concerned about the durability of the Zipp 250s from my experience last fall and for greater surface area when braking during the descents. Since I will need to learn how to descend, I will most likely be relying heavily on the brakes until I know how to navigate the switch backs and road conditions.
In my next blog entry I will let you know how the bike performed in its first mountain trials here in Neuchâtel. |
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Comments from Edward Bronson
My everyday R3 SL is 13.4 pounds and that includes an ergomo bottom Bracket. I would think that my bike is close to the 10.38 without the the power meter.
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Comments from sandra martin
nice to hear what you are up to cuz. hey if you wanted to practise on mountains I have some near my house.
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Comments from Chris
What are you using fro brake pads with the Zipp 280s?
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Comments from Larry Bradford
Matt Where did you get the Schmolke handlebars?? I know Fairwheel Bikes does not have any and they are the distributor. I am building up a 56cm Soloist Carbon SL and I am concidering these bars 26.0mm, because they will handle aero clip ons for TT's. Please advise Larry Bradford
P.S. I have several of the parts you used for your project on my old frame and will use them on the Cervelo SL.
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| The First ride |
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| Roger gleefully lifting the bike |
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26-May-2007: Well, I had the first earlier today. Except for the saddle, it was a dream ride. Didn't really push anything hard as this was more of a shakedown ride than anything else.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the flex of the Becker saddle was very extreme when not connected to the seat post. I surmised that it would stiffen up when connected to the seat post. Well it did somewhat but not as much as I thought it would.
Pulling out of parking garage entrance, I sat down on the saddle and heard loud crackling sounds coming from the saddle as I peddled. A very ominous sign. I contemplated turning back to change the saddle but it was too late. If I was going to make the start of the donut ride, I had to continue on.
I will say it was comfortable. But, the constant crackling caused me to make sure I paid attention to bumps in the road as I was fearing its fragility.
The bike handled like a dream. It cornered well and accelerated just like its older sibling, the R3. Not having a solid saddle did allow me to really put the pedal to the metal. So, once I change out the saddle, I will get it another go to see what it can do both on the flats and hills.
I did make it to the bakery, our ride's mid-point. I wanted Roger, the patriarch and originator of the ride, to check out the bike. That is him picking up the bike in the picture to the left.
I should have charged people for the privilege of picking up the bike. It was fun watching people’s faces as they picked up the bike. "Oh that is light!" or "That's crazy light!" or "Is that legal?"
Well, the final bike build came in at 4.71 kg or 10.38 lb. So, I guess it is slightly under the UCI weight limit, but who cares, I don't race. And remember, this weight is from using standard parts that you can find in most bike shops (at least in Europe).
Interestingly, I wasn't the only one with an R3-SL on the ride. Another rider had one but with a more standardized build. When he picked up the bike, his expression said it all. "Yep, that is a little lighter than mine!!" with a big grin on his face.
On the way back home, I heard a couple of crack like sounds. These were distinct sounds like something breaking not the crackling sound that was being heard during peddling. I could feel a distinctive spring in the saddle that wasn't there. So, I stopped by the side of the road and looked at the seat only to discover fracture lines in the saddle at the points where the integrated rails start on both sides of the saddle. Knowing that I had close to 50 km to ride, I gingerly got back on the bike to coax it home.
Sitting on the very tip of the saddle or peddling standing up for long stretches made for slow riding. So, that was the disappointment of the ride. The surprise of the ride, well, of all the parts we thought would be marginal, the full carbon chain rings. I must say that they have performed well above expectations. Unfortunately, I don't know the manufacturer as they don't have any name on them. I will ride with them for a couple of more days before swapping them for the Carbon-Ti chain rings.
I hope to get a couple more rides in before the bike is packed in the Pika Packworks bike bag (which by the way is a really nice, padded bike bag which a group of us purchased all at the same time earlier this month). On Wednesday, I will be entrusting this precious cargo to Air Canada as I fly over to Switzerland to start the really hard training.
I would like to thank Don and John, two of our engineers at Cervélo. They have done a spectacular job of engineering a gorgeous frame. |
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Comments from Rick
Matt,
That bike is crazy, I could not believe it when I picked it up. It is a good thing you didn't come up to VanDorf as it was crazy fast and that broken saddle would have went right through your bibs.
Love my R3, it is still less than 15lbs so I am still ahead most everyone else.
Just no S. factor, well maybe a little.
Rick
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Comments from Jonesy
How much would this bike roughly cost to buy?
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Comments from Blake
Have you considered using the Selle Italia CX ZERO saddle. It weighs in at 75 grams and being Selle Italia it is probably very reliable
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Comments from Big Mag
How about an updated components list with the weight of all the parts used?
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Comments from Philipp
Hi, another suggestion for the saddle would be LOTZ Carbon.
He's a pretty young guy who builds pretty cool an reliable carbonstuff.
Not to mention that 150€ isn't that expensive for a 65gramm saddle...
www.lotz-carbon.de
direct link to saddle:
http://www.lotz-carbon.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=26
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| Real soon now |
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23-May-2007: We should be building the bike really soon. Maybe even today. Chris Bastie is beside himself wanting to build the bike. I think he is more excited than I am.
It has been a tumultuous couple of weeks. Last week, I went to my doctor to get my medical clearance certificate that I need to be able to do L'Etape du Tour. He wrote it all out for me and just before sending me on my way, he decided to do one last test, an ECG. The technician wheels in the machine, wires me up, runs the test and prints out the results. My doctor walks in takes one look at the printout and goes "Oh! Put your shirt on and have a seat I will be back in a couple of minutes."
Having heard that, I knew immediately I wasn't getting the certificate. He tells me that I have an enlarged heart. He writes out a referral to have an ultrasound and tells me to make the appointment quickly as the results take a week to get back to him. So, off I go make the appointment and have the test performed last Thursday. During the test, the doctor asks me if I have had stress test done. I said no, but in the back of my mind I really wanted to say, "Yes! I did five years of architecture school!" but I kept my mouth shut. I sweated more on that table than I have on some rides I have been on.
So, I have to wait until the end of this week to see if I can get the certificate. I think I should be able to since the ultrasound doctor said everything was normal. Luckily I had the appointment when I did otherwise I would not be flying to Europe a week from today. |
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| There is some hope after all! |
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| Bob Blumer |
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10-May-2007: Just finished watching a preview of an upcoming show, "Glutton for Punishment" with everyone here at Cervélo and the star of the show, Bob Blumer. For those of you who may recognize the name, he is a sort of renaissance man who was the manager for singer/song writer Jane Sibery who later morphed into a chef and cooking show luminary. His previous show seen on Food Network, "Surreal Gourmet", featured a toaster-mobile. You have to watch the show to understand.
The episode we just watched, "Alpine Cyclist", has Bob riding a full Tour de France stage route that if he finishes, he gets to eat a gourmet feast that equals the total calories he burned during the ride. He also has coaching help from Team CSC rider Christian Vande Velde who gets to participate in the feast as well.
Unlike me, Bob only has four days to get ready to ride the full stage. Luckily, Bob is a cyclist junkie. He may not put in the miles on a consistent basis, but, when he can, he does get out on his bike in California where he lives.
This show is actually pretty funny, as are the other episodes in the series, where he spends four days trying to get ready for some food related event on the fifth day. Christian is particular good in this episode coaching Bob up L'Alpe d'Huez.
Given my level of fear for the upcoming Étape du Tour of being in shape, watching Bob do it in five days gives me some hope! Bob isn't a 20 something cyclist either. Spending a full month in the Swiss Alps should make this whole adventure that much easier.
"Glutton for Punishment" is available on Food Network Canada and on the Fine Living Network.
In Canada you can catch the Alpine Cyclist episode on May 16th at 10 PM EST. In the US it will be on Fine Living Network on May 18th at 9:30 PM EST.
As a parting note, for those of you trying to figure out what was wrong the picture in the previous blog, if you had said it was missing the frame, nope, wrong answer. It was missing one of the more critical parts of the bike (at least from my viewpoint). The water bottle cages. More precisely, the 10g water bottle cages. Given the profile of Étape du Tour water bottle cages are going to be very important especially if it is a hot day that day. |
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Comments from Tim
It also looks like you have Titanium skewers from M2 Racer......am I right? It's too bad that company had to go out of business :( A buddy of mine found a distributor in the US that still had some of their stuff..so he bought the remaining stock.(jerk)
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| Why these components |
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| What's wrong with this picture? |
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27-Apr-2007: I would like to thank those of you who have suggested parts that I could use on this bike build. Some of them look really yummy! Whoops, there goes the hunger pains again.
Planning for this bike build started late last year. I commented to Gerard that I would help him and his wife train for L’Étape du Tour if he was willing to get me an entry in this years ride. When he said no problem, I thought I had been start planning for the ride.
It was also around that time that the final timetable for the production of the R3-SL had solidified. So, instead of upgrading parts on the existing R3, I decided to bite the bullet and build a whole new bike from the ground up using all that I had learned on putting together the R3.
So why these components? Part of it was due to the existing bike. Part of it was researching what is available and from where. The THM-Carbones and Schmolke parts are relatively easy to get in Europe. That is not the case here in North America. The lead times for some of these parts can be up to 20 weeks. Count backwards from the general time you are going to leave for Switzerland, and you have to start ordering those parts before the year is out. Luckily, the THM-Carbones parts came in 8 weeks after ordering.
The Lew Racing wheelset only started hitting the cycling radar recently. Even they have a lead time of about 3 weeks. They look particular inviting, but, can I spend the money on other parts that will offer the same weight savings?
The Nokon Carbon cable housings like nice but I have yet to see them available even on the online shops in Europe. The M5 Recumbents superlight hubs were just announced this past month. With a little more time, maybe we could have looked at them. Possibly still could if I could get a set.
The target date for having the bike built and road ready is mid-May. I would like to get it road tested a least a couple of times to make sure everything is working properly before I jet off to Switzerland on the 30th of May. Still, there is one major item to fill that picture to the left.
At some point, I will tally up the cost of the final build. I know even now it will not be for the feint of heart. Even my cat is a little peeved that I have used his fur coat fund to buy parts.
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Comments from Jason Cheng
Matt,
How come you went with the AM classic RD205s? Why didn't you go with the Extralite hubs?
UltraHubs Front 62g
UltraHubs Rear 162gr
www.extralite.com
-Jason
2006 Soloist Team
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| Going to have to cut out those donuts |
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22-Apr-2007: Yesterday was certainly an eye opener. I went out with Chris, our Customer Support Manager, and his wife Tereza Macel who is a world class triathlete for a ride through the Niagara Escarpment. We didn't ride too hard since this would be one of our first long rides since the clutches of winter.
We started getting that weather seen recently in Europe, temperatures in the mid-20ºC (high 70ºF). I was totally over dressed expecting the temperature to hit the daytime highs in the early afternoon and not mid-morning like it did. Doing those hills almost killed me. Having the long sleeved jersey and base layer was not the ideal clothing to be wearing when doing a climb especially when you hadn't hydrated enough.
I quickly realized that I will have to cut out those yummy donuts between now and the end of May. If I want to be able to do those climbs in the Swiss Alps, I will need to get my weight down as well. Hopefully, I can trade that personal floatation device I have been carrying around my mid-section for some muscle. Part of the exercise is not just to lighten the bike but also myself. I am looking at this as a total system. The fewer extra water bottles I carry the better.
Today on the Donut ride, I was able to easily keep up with the kids. Last year at this time, I was getting shot out the back of the pack unable to keep up with the pace. This time, I was able to even win one of the sprints!
More later.
Matt. |
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| Starting to come together |
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18-Apr-2007: Well, it is starting to come together. Chris, our Customer Support Manager and bike mechanic extraordinare, built up the wheels earlier this week. Without the tires, they come in at 1110g with the 12-25 cassette. This is a very similar build to the last set I had which I promptly cracked on the Ride for Karen charity ride. The only difference is in the cassette. This one is geared for the mountains, not the flat Ontario roads.
This time, I will make sure I don't hit any pot holes in the road. I don't think this should be a problem since the roads on the Tour are certainly well maintained.
As for the safety factor, I know we call this the Crazy Light Project, but, given the last road test of the wheels, I am quite confident they suit the purpose of the bike build: a light and safe bike.
The goal is not to build the lightest bike possible. There are bikes that have been built that are really light. Richard, the owner of Speedplay, built such a bike. We are trying to build a light bike with well engineered and commonly available parts. Safety is a key factor here as I will be riding this bike daily while in Switzerland training for the L'Étape ride. Most of the parts I already have used on my R3 and I know they work having put over 10000 km on the frame and parts.
So why the term Crazy Light? "Wow, that is crazy light!" was the comment that kept coming up last year when we first started lightening up the R3. The term just stuck.
Matt. |
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| R3-SL Crazy-Light Components List |
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15-Apr-2007: As requested, here are the parts thus far I have received for the R3-SL Crazy-Light project.
| Component |
Manufacturer |
Weight |
Weight* |
| Seat |
AX-Lightness Phoenix |
67 |
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| Seat |
Becker |
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45 |
| Seat Post |
Schmolke TLO 250 |
85 |
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| Bars |
Schmolke TLO 44 C to C |
148 |
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| Fork |
THM Scapula Tuned |
256 |
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| Crank |
THM Clavicula |
413 |
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| Quick Release |
Carbon-Ti |
48 |
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| Chain Ring 50T |
Carbon-Ti |
70 |
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| Chain Ring 36T |
Carbon-Ti |
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43 |
| Chain Ring 34T |
Carbon-Ti |
28 |
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| Chain Ring 50T |
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43 |
| Chain Ring 34T |
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19 |
| Brake levers |
SRAM Force |
306 |
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| Rear Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
178 |
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| Front Derailleur |
SRAM Force |
86 |
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| Cable/Housing |
SRAM Force |
199 |
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| Cable/Housing |
Nokon |
112 |
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| Spokes |
Titanium (with nipples) |
184 |
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| Front rim |
Zipp 250 |
275 |
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| Rear rim |
Zipp 250 |
262 |
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| Front Hub |
American Classic Micro 58 Ceramic |
56 |
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| Rear Hub |
American Classic RD 205 Ceramic |
217 |
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| Brakes |
Zero Gravity 0G07 |
196 |
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| Chain |
KMC X10 SL |
223 |
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| Bottle Cages |
TUNE |
10 |
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| Cassette |
Tiso 12-27 |
115 |
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| Pedals |
Speedplay zero w/ custom 45º Aluminum bowtie |
140 |
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| Tubulars |
Vittoria |
540 |
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| Headset |
FSA Orbit IS Carbon |
83 |
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| Headset Spacer |
FSA Carbon 10 mm |
5 |
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| Stem |
Syntace F-99 |
111 |
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Total component weight (in grams) |
4413 |
150 | *Alternate component selection
You will notice that I have multiple items contained within the list which I have listed in a second column. These are components which I will test to determine which component I will use. During most of the training I will do in the Swiss Alps, I will be using FSA Super Road compact chainrings. I suspect that the carbon chain rings are not designed for everyday training; rather, they are more likely suited for race conditions.
I should also note that this doesn't mean that the list is finalized. Chris, who was in California visiting dealers, found those parts for me. He, along with others, are keeping eagle eyes out for those magical, hard to find parts. |
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Comments from Francis Renneboog
Matt, maybe a good alternative for the hubs: Soul-Kozak www.soul-kozak.com, the rear hub is significantly lighter then the AM Classic. Oh and check out www.m5-ligfietsen.nl also, super-lightweight hubs and great brakes.
Greetings from a Euro-racer ;-)
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Comments from florent SEIGNEZ
Why don't you use POWERCORZ, NOKON Carbone and veloflex record tubular ?
TUNE hub (MIG 45 and MAG 150) are lighter
Regards.
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Comments from Mauro Angel Pena
Matt,
How about those 800 gram Lew Racing Tubular Wheels? Lewracing.com
Just an Idea,
M. Pena
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Comments from Matt
Great suggestions! I will add more insight into the selection process shortly.
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Comments from Alan
isnt the seat post a 32.4mm instead of 31.6 as stated above?
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| So much for global warming! |
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10-Apr-2007: Brrrr! Wow, that was a sudden change! We have gone from rideable weather right into the deep freeze! Goodbye R3, hello R2.5 and the trainer!
Parts and more parts! I received the most amazing chain rings I have every seen. They are the Carbon-Ti chain rings from Carbon-Ti in Germany. Unfortunately, their web site is only in German but as luck would have it, Thorben one of our customer support reps, is from Germany and he was kind enough to help translate the information for me.
For this years L’Étape du Tour, there are five mountains that have to be climbed with about 4000 m of climbing. Carbon-Ti was kind enough to provide us with compact chain rings of 50t, 36t and 34t. All are amazingly light. The average weight savings of these chain rings over standard 130 BCD chain rings is around 26%.
In total, I should be able to save about 40 g. Doesn't seem like much, but, when looked with other weight savings, they do have an impact.
Along with the Quick Releases I received from them which come in at 48 g, I am saving over 80 g from similar components I used on the R3.
So far the actual measured weight savings on parts in hand are:
| Chain rings |
40 g |
| Quick releases |
80 g |
| Total weight savings |
120 g |
Matt. |
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| R3-SLs are shipping |
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08-Apr-2007: Well, the first batch of R3-SLs have come and gone! Even though I am still missing parts, I don't have my grimmy little paws on one of those wonderful pieces of carbon yet.
You would think I would have an inside track. Nope.
The first ones to go out the shipping dock are for paying customers from bike shops. That is the way it has to be. Customers are always first in line. As soon as all the customer orders have been fulfilled, then, I might get one. And then, only if I behave myself.
They came and went so fast I didn't even have a chance to hold one of them. It was interesting that I was told about them after they had shipped. Hmm, wonder why?
Matt. |
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Comments from simon
I take it you've seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL4diHOH_40
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Comments from Matt
Simon, not I hadn't seen the video. But after viewing it, I quickly ordered the DVD. Knowing what you are up against is half the battle!
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Comments from PaulR
I've had my grubby little hands on an R3 SL for 4 days now, and the darn seatpost clamp just snapped. A beautiful (scarily minimalist?) design of around 10g. I did use a Torque Wrench/Teflon grease when assembling... am I the only unlucky one?
As a painful plus, it seems to be a specific Cervélo design and so difficult to provide a rapid solution. The local distributor is sending me another but the days leading up to L'Etape du Tour are few now and any lost is a real shame.
Could you at least add the collar to your Webstore so I can buy a spare?
Any and all comments welcome
PaulR
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| Wow, an even lighter saddle |
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| Becker-Carbon 45 g saddle |
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03-Apr-2007: Chris, our support person extraordinare, was recently in San Diego visiting dealers. He popped into a bike shop where he stumbled across all those wonderful parts from Europe. Found an even lighter saddle made by Becker-Carbon from Germany.
This saddle is fully carbon like the AX-Lightness except that the rails are built into the edges of the saddle. It will be very interesting to test this seat against the AX-Lightness. This seat has greater flex to it than all the others. But, you have remember while flexing it, that there are no rails providing linear cross bracing. I suspect that when the saddle is attached to the seatpost, the extreme flex will give way and the saddle will behave like saddles with separate rails.
So far the actual measured weight savings on parts in hand are:
| Chain rings |
40 g |
| Quick releases |
80 g |
| Bottle cages |
50 g |
| Fork |
24 g |
| Stem |
25 g |
| Bars |
50 g |
| Saddle* |
37 g |
| Total weight savings |
306 g |
* Includes 22g weight savings from Beck-Carbon saddle
Matt. |
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Comments from Mike Wares
What brakes are you using?? Do you have a listing of all the components??
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Comments from Ivan
Whats the weight of your bike now?, I read on a forum some guy used thick fishing line for his cables and saved a little weight apparently weight obsessed, but hey this is the "crazy light project".
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| Oh, that was hard |
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30-Mar-2007: Last year, Gerard created a "Do not kill list" of people I was not allowed to kill from the office when we went out on group rides. Interestingly enough, my name was on that list.
I just got back from a really short ride where I felt like dying! Getting ready for L’Étape du Tour I am looking for any hill to train on. One of our customer support rep's, Thorben, showed me a hill last fall which while somewhat short (it is around 300 m), it has a really nasty finish to it. Using the Bion Clino 401 trip computer, which has an instant slope feature I picked up from Koroteck, the end of the hill showed at being between a 17 to 20% gradient!!
I did three really quick reps to try to minimize the recovery time which occurs when you go back down the training hill. On the third repeat, oh did it hurt! I had to do a slow recovery ride around the parking lot of the grocery store. And then, the idiot I am, I the hill not once more but twice!
After the fifth rep of the morning, I was ready to start coughing up body parts. I have to remember I am getting old.
I had also better stop snacking and loose some more weight!
Hopefully, I will not find the hill as hard later in the training when I have lost some of that winter fat and improved the conditioning some more. I am also glad we aren't going to have 20% gradients on this years ride.
Have to be a little more carefull in the training since I don't want to make Gerard angry.
Matt. |
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Comments from lbarber
Matt-
Head down to the Finger Lakes in Western NY for some decent hill training, you're looking at about a 2.5-3.5 hour drive from Toronto. It's all glaciated terrain, so there aren't any huge "mountains" but there are plenty of challenging rides with lots of elevation gain especially as you get further south/west of Rochester.
Ciao!
-Lee Barber
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Comments from Jeff McCartney
I think I know that hill! It's in Leaside, by the Loblaws. I live not too far from there and use it as a training ride when I'm too pressed for time to do something long. It isSTEEP, and after 2 or 3 reps it feels like you're climbing a wall. Someone should put together a map of all the good hills in Toronto, which is mostly flat. I bet you might get 10 good ones. That one would be near the top of the list, I think.
jeff
superprodigyrider
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Comments from Jason Amoriell
What are your overall impressions for that Bion Clino 401 cyclocomputer? Thanks.
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| Oh goody, the saddle has arrived |
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28-Mar-2007: Just received the AX-Lightness Phoenix saddle. I currently have AX-Lightness Sprint saddle on my R3. Contrary to what you would think given the saddle has absolutely no padding on it (it is just clear coated carbon), it is the most comfortable seat I have ridden on!
One of the reasons for this are the carbon rails of the saddle. Most saddles have a metal rail of either Ti or Cro-Moly. They do not flex as much as the carbon does. When combined with the R3 or R3-SL rear seat stays, you have a very comfortable ride.
So far the actual measured weight savings on parts in hand are:
| Chain rings |
40 g |
| Quick releases |
80 g |
| Bottle cages |
50 g |
| Fork |
24 g |
| Stem |
25 g |
| Bars |
50 g |
| Saddle |
15 g |
| Total weight savings |
284 g |
Matt. |
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| Wow that is light! |
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27-Mar-2007: Just received the Schmolke seat post and handle bar. Wow, they are light! I had to beat off the engineers and support reps with a tire pump to keep them from stealing them from me!
One of the reasons for going with the Schmolke handle bars is that I will be able to save weight both on the bars themselves and the stem. The TLO handle bar has a clamping diameter of 26 mm. That means I would need to use a 26 mm stem. So, instead of the Syntace F119 stem that I am using of the R3, I will go with the Syntace F99 and use Ti bolts. So I will go from 136 g down to 111 g.
On the handle bar side, I currently have the Zipp SLC2 Bar. These are really nice bars. Unfortunately, they only come with 31.6 mm clamping diameter size. I should be able to save about 50 g here.
So far the actual measured weight savings on parts in hand are:
| Chain rings |
40 g |
| Quick releases |
80 g |
| Bottle cages |
50 g |
| Fork |
24 g |
| Stem |
25 g |
| Bars |
50 g |
| Total weight savings |
269 g |
Matt. |
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| Getting closer |
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20-Mar-2007: Well, I have just paid for the apartment I will be staying at in Neuchâtel. I guess I can cross that to-do off the list. Now, the next major thing is to figure out when to leave for Switzerland.
Matt. |
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| 4000 metre ascent, oh my! |
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28-Feb-2007: This year's L’Étape du Tour goes from Foix to Loudenvielle, a 196 km jaunt through the Pyrenees. There are five climbs on the ride:
| Km 27 |
Col de Port |
Ascent of 11.4 km at a 5.3% gradient |
| Km 98 |
Col de Portet d’Aspet |
Ascent of 5.7 km at a 6.9% gradient |
| Km 114 |
Col de Menté |
Ascent of 7 km at a 8.1% gradient |
| Km 159 |
Port de Balès |
Ascent of 19.2 km at a 6.2% gradient |
| Km 184 |
Col de Peyresourde |
Ascent of 9.7 km at a 7.8% gradient |
Both Col de Menté and Col de Peyresourde look like nasty little climbs. Here is a closer look at the route.
It should be very interesting.
Matt. |
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Comments from larry mac
matt, it will be more than interesting you better fill a water bottle with some maple syrup we rode 3 of your climbs last spring ahhhhhhhhh peyresourde is just beyond words !!!! yes i rode it on my stock cervelo carbon soloist from wheels on bloor later
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| I wish it was spring! |
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22-Feb-2007: Arrgghh! Riding the trainer is tough work.
My fitness level compared to the same time last year, it is like night and day. I have been able to complete 40 km rides on the trainer in just over an hour. Last year, it would have been an hour and five or six minutes.
While I can easily practice climbing or descending on the trainer, I can improve my aerobic level which will be very important in the rarefied air of the mountains. Remember, I am a flatlander. We don't have mountains here in Toronto. My training hill of choice is 1.7 km with about a 60 m rise in elevation. Whoppie! Just a speed bump to those of you close to mountains.
That is why I figure it will be really important to relocate at the beginning of June to our European offices in Switzerland. I will need to practice ascending and descending for a least a month before we do L’Étape du Tour on July 16th.
Matt. |
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| A Tuned Fork |
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19-Feb-2007: Lucky, very lucky. I ordered the Scapula and Clavicula mid-December. I received both 8 weeks later. At the time, it looked like the Clavicula was going to be 20 weeks from arriving. Yes, very lucky.
Since I already have the same Clavicula on the R3, I won't realize any weight savings. However, I will have some weight savings by using the Tuned Scapula fork. Uncut, it weights 256 g, so once it is sized for the R3-SL and cut to length, we should realize some significant weight savings. But for now, I will use the 256 g weight.
For its class, this is one of the stiffest forks you will find on the market and is one the lightest we have come across thus far next to ours. Why use this fork instead of the fork that comes with the R3-SL? Well, mostly weight savings. Not having the fork that comes with the frame set, I can't offer you a weight yet. But, the Wolf SL fork is designed primarily for the SLC-SL being an aero shape. Here, aero is not as important as the total system weight.
So far the actual measured weight savings on parts in hand are:
| Chain rings |
40 g |
| Quick releases |
80 g |
| Bottle cages |
50 g |
| Fork |
24 g |
| Total weight savings |
194 g |
Matt. |
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| Wow! That is some bottle cage! |
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15-Feb-2007: Just received the order from GypzyBikz with my fork, crank and water bottle cages. I talked earlier about the THM-Carbones products, but, my-oh-my this bottle cage is something else!
5 g! Yes, just 5 g for the cage!
These water bottle cages are from Tune in Germany! Yet another amazing German, hand crafted bicycle part! My previous bottle cages were carbon as well and were quite light. They came in at 30 g each.
So far the actual measured weight savings on parts in hand are:
| Chain rings |
40 g |
| Quick releases |
80 g |
| Bottle cages |
50 g |
| Total weight savings |
170 g |
Matt. |
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| Happy New Year! |
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05-Jan-2007: Happy New Year!
The weather has been amazing going into the New Year. I still have the R3 on the road when normally I would be on the trainer riding furiously nowhere on my R2.5 beater bike!
The parts acquisitioning has begun in earnest. For this exercise, I will be using the Scapula SP Tuned fork from THM-Carbones. On the R3 I already have the Scapula SP fork which is amazingly light at 280 g. The Tuned version of the fork should allow a weight savings of a least 40 g or more.
I will also be using THM-Carbones Clavicula compact crank which is around 420 g. I have that also on the R3 at the moment. It is very stiff and light.
For those of us that live in North America, you will not find these parts in your local bike shop. These parts are only available in Europe. If you want to get your hands on them, you will have to find an online shop in Europe to order them from. Also, because the products are so well crafted, they are produced in limited quantities to enable exceptionally high quality. For the cranks, there can be a lead time of up to 20 weeks before you will be able to get one. I guess that is the price of perfection. Oh, yea, they aren't cheap! The total cost for these two items from GypzyBikz.com was over 1500 €.
Matt. |
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| The R3-SL Crazy Light Project |
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| My moment of Zen |
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04-Dec-2006: Welcome to our new blog feature which is part of our new 2007 web site launch!
Both Gerard and myself, (I am Matt, the resident webmaster) will be adding periodic blog entries over the course of the new season. My entries will be dealing with the quest for the light bike, or as we call it here, the Crazy Light project.
My first attempt at a light bike was reasonably successful, if only for one group ride. You can see the results to the left of me alone pondering the fate of my Zipp 250 rims which had just encountered a huge pot hole on a 160 km local charity ride, Ride for Karen. After hearing a loud sound, I figured my front rim had just bought it. Much to my surprise it seemed to be okay. John, one of our Engineers, was riding in the support van and he quickly checked the back wheel and notice it out of true, so he backed off the brakes and set me on my way to finish the ride. I babied the bike to the finish line, some 30 kilometres. Once there and taking the wheels off to put back into the car, I only realized that both front and back wheels had huge cracks in them. The only thing really holding the real wheel together was the tubular tire!
People were amazed that I wasn't distraught having trashed to new rims after only having had one real ride on. My attitude was the rims were replaceable and at least I wasn't hurt. Thank heavens for structural integrity of the Zipps!
So, as the new season unfolds, I will chronicle my quest for the light bike. It will be based on the new R3-SL frame and parts from around the world. These parts will not just be the lightest I can find. They need to be safe and well engineered like our bikes. The end result must be a bike that is rideable and safe. And the ride in question is L'Étape 2007 through the Pyrenees July 16th, 2007.
So join me while I put together my ultimate bike. As I find the parts, I will provide you with the specs, especially the weight!
Oh yea, before I sign off, I should let you know what the goal is for this bike: less than 5.55 Kg (12.26 lbs). That was the weight of my R3 during the Ride for Karen. We should be to beat it easily this time round. More later.
Matt. |
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Comments from mark
If you are doing the l'etape, why not do the 'le Marmotte' the week before.
Perfect ride for a super light bike. I did it on my Soloist Carbon last year.
cheers, Mark
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