Bicycle Maintenence Tip #1

I've been racing bikes and working in the bicycle industry for over 25 years now. I've seen many things in that time, and many common mistakes that seem to occur frequently.





If there is one thing my fellow mechanics and I all agree on, its the fact that we hate to work on unsanitary bicycles. By unsanitary, I don't necessarily mean dirty like dirt and mud, its something we like to call "MAN GOO".





Man goo is a mixture of sweat, sports drink, energy gels, and sometimes urine. Man goo seems to occur more often on triathletes bikes. I think maybe this happens because the bike portion of their events seems to be the best time to eat, drink, and use the restroom.



Another unsanitary issue is the heavy sweater. Sweat alone can cause all kinds of damage to bicycles if not wiped down after riding. In all the years I've been working on bicycles, there have been some memorable gross bikes.



A couple of months ago, a customer brought in a bike to have the handlebars replaced. It seemed kind of weird because the bike did not look like it had been crashed. As I started to unwrap the bars, I was horrified to find this:

That white stuff is actually dried up sweat that over time, actually corroded the bars to the point of breaking under normal use.

Yes I had to use rubber gloves and the bars were stinkier than they look. The ends of the bars where the plugs go had basically melted and were not round anymore as seen on the black portion above.

The point of the story is a little windex after a messy ride can go a long way into keeping your bike safe and working well.

If you are a heavy sweater or ride your bike indoors a lot, its a good idea to change your handlebar tape at least once or twice a year. A clean bike = a happy bike and mechanic!

CORS August Race #4

Lately I've been trying to ride a lot to build an endurance or aerobic platform to support some good intensity in order to prepare for cyclocross season. I've done a few group rides the last couple of weeks that ended up getting "racey", but I haven't done any structured hard intervals in the 1 to 5 minute range yet.

Its getting to be time to add some into the program, so I figured I would do the Wed night CORS Firehill race to kind of test where I'm at. Its also been 2 months since I've done any real racing, so I was getting the itch to do a race.


My daughter Chloe waiting to give out a potential hand up if needed.............

So the first lap started out with a prime. A diaper prime to be exact. I decided halfway up the finish hill to get it. I opened up a good gap so I figured what the hell, lets see how long I can hold it. Sometimes if the field sits up a time or two, and you keep a nice pace going, thats all it takes and you've got a good enough lead that can be hard to make up.

It lasted for 3 or 4 laps until as you can see, Evan decided to punch it up the hill and everything was back together. Paul Bonds took off a bit later, and eventually Peter, Rob, and Evan caught up with him.
Chad tried to keep me motivated to chase, but the 4 guys up the road seemed to be gaining ground. I was sure they were gone, however, with 2 laps to go, they all just sat up and everything was together once again. Normally, if I had the form, I would have attacked right as we caught them. In reality, I was hanging on by a thread.

I was in a good position going into the last corner getting ready to take the bell lap, but Evan attacked hard up the hill. I stayed right on his wheel all the way to the long downhill backstraight, but Rob attacked, 4 guys went with him, and I was too blown to respond. This is the last corner going up the hill to the finish.

All in all, it took me 5 races at this course to finally finish on the lead lap, so I was pretty happy with that. As far a testing goes, I think my form is not off as far as I thought it would be. In looking at the data on Training peaks, my normalized ave power was 312 watts, which is pretty close to what I was doing in April.

I'm a little bummed because I'm pretty stoked on racing now and this was the last practice race. There are a few more crits coming up though and cyclocross is just around the corner!

Warr Acres Sanitation Superintentendent: Your Cans must go!

Last week after the trash men picked up the trash, I found this tag attached to one of the cans-

It quickly became apparent my trash cans had made their last appearance in Warr Acres

Dear Resident:

This can has been condemned because its condition presents a health and/or safety hazard to the City of Warr Acres and sanitation employees. Ordinance 8.08.060 states that "Every resident, owner or rental agent in the City of Warr Acres shall provide a metal or other satisfactory weather proof container for the disposal of garbage and refuse in the City of Warr Acres, said container to be not more than forty (40) gallons in size...said cans shall be equipped and maintained with tight lids and with handles on the sides of the cans"

We would appreciate the prompt replacement of this can. if you have any questions, please contact the Sanitation Dept. at 491-6474.

Thank you

Sanitation Superintendent

The ratty trash cans in question........

Note the halfway blown out bottom end.................

Definitely no lids or handles on this bad boy..............

I've had these trash cans for over 10 years now. They were actually here when I first moved into my house. I wonder if I can fill them up 1 more time and put a note on them that says "Please take the whole thing"

Tandemania !

So we've got a few rides in so far on the tandem. A lot of people say a tandem can cause marital problems, or fighting amongst the couples who ride them. I guess it just depends on the folks who are riding them. Coatney and I love riding them. We borrowed one of Gil and Helene's tandems a few years ago and really enjoyed it. We've been on a mission ever since to find one we could afford and one that was actually tall enough in the back that would fit Coatney as me and her are about the same height.

My buddy Eldon sold us his Burley. It's 4130 cro-mo, from the mid 90's or so. It's nice and ride able right now, but I'm gonna make a few upgrades this winter.


I gave the bike a little tune up, swapped the pedals and Coatney's saddle, removed the rear rack and put the hitch on for Chloe's trailer.


Pulling the trailer is a lot easier with a tandem than a single bike. The bike is very stable. Some tandems tend to twist and flex giving you an uneasy feeling and unable to take self portraits such as this:

Chloe likes the tandem a lot better as well. She likes to be able to see mom and dad at the same time all the time!

Record Miles July

I decided at the end of June that I'd pretty much used up my base miles bank and it was time to make a serious deposit if I wanted to salvage the rest of my season and have something to build upon for cyclocross season. My highest ever mileage month was in August of 2003 at 1238 miles, and it was time to make that the old record. Since there were 31 days in July, if I figured if I tried to average 40 miles per day that would give me 1240 miles. I could get 30-35 commuting during the week and get some long weekend rides in.

It got close at the end, but I set a new record with 1241!

I didn't really do any high intensity riding, just enduro pace and a lot of 10 minute tempo stuff.

I'm going to try to do the Hotter than Hell cat 1/2 crit on the 28th and the 100 mile 1/2 road race on the 29th. I did the Spin Your Wheels 100 mile ride last sat and felt pretty good all day. The next day I got a good 50 mile ride in. It was pretty rough at first, but Randy "crazy legs" Wyninnger was there causing havoc and baiting me to sprint to frequent points of interest. My high end power numbers were very close to my all time bests, so I'm very happy with that.

The latest deal is I'm getting a tandem bike and I'm gonna pick it up tomorrow! It's a super sweet Burley. Should be a lot of fun.