Winter Riding II

http://iupcycling.blogspot.com/ Here you can find some pictures of my ride today. Decided to do some mountain biking for a couple of hours with the cycling president from IUP, good fun.

Check out this video out at 2:20 in - sweet sprint http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C_4C_woYa8

Winter Riding

I attacked a couple of hills today and actually did a little work compared to the last couple of rides I did before my visit to NYC. The ride was a joy, I pretended I could actually generate enough power on my own to break away from a group. It kept the riding somewhat interesting considering it was hovering right above 20 degrees out. It was also the first ride of the year that my water bottle froze up. I took a couple of "cool" pictures but I forgot my card adapter so they will have to wait to be posted until I get back to Ship.

My brother has a Cannondale F4 sitting wrapped in the basement and I will admit I'm pretty jealous.

Check these pictures out at velonews-

the new kits -- my first thoughts

I got out and rode 1:45 with Kevin and Christopher in my fabulous new kit. Well, part of it. Bibs, leg warmers, and vest...

So far, I'm feeling good about the bibs. I always feel like you need to wear and wash them half a dozen times before you really know what they're going to be like, but so far so good. And I like the "tall" option. I got the medium-tall and it seems to be just the perfect size.

I'll eat a little crow and concede that I'm digging the leg warmers. The fleecey winter fabric is really nice, actually. I wore bibs, leg warmers, and my secret fleece square today in the chilly wind and my legs were comfortably warm. And I totally dig how they sort of turn white-ish where they're being stretched the most. It's a sort of cool effect. Sizing is great. And I also love that there are no annoying ankle zippers.

The arm warmers are a different story, however. I think everyone will agree that the sizing is way off on the arm warmers. Rather unfortunate. My mediums are too big. Mike's smalls are way too big for him. So I'm going to hop on the sewing machine later and take a half inch or so out of mine. I'll let you know how the operation goes. My guess is we may all be doing that.

Few of you ordered a vest, but they're surprisingly nice. Not quite as great as the Hincapie vests (I loved the all-around stretch-ness of the Hincapie fabric, mesh back, and two-way zippers), but still much nicer than other vests I've owned and worn. The vests sport a lightweight wind-proof fabric front and back with a slick Lycra stretch panel on either side. My size small (I ordered size large jerseys, but the sizing is different) fits great. Comfortably snug. Unfortunately, no mesh on the back panel, no two-way zipper, and no rear pockets (though we may be able to order them with pockets, I'd have to check). Y'all may want to consider a vest when we do our reorder (only $40).

I haven't worn my jersey on a ride yet, but my sense is that they are made of a really great high-temperature fabric. In other words, I think the jerseys will seem better and better the hotter it gets outside. Though the collar seems a little weird...I haven't decided yet if that's an issue.

On the design, the more I see it the more I love what Mike and Chop did with the boat logo. Everyone I show loves it. I don't know how long we'll keep the "opposing hulls" design, but I think that whatever the club does in the future the modified boat logo (stripped of its oval) will be a part of it. It just looks really, really good.

I'm anxious to hear your reviews as you get out to ride...

...

FYI, I talked to Atac today and the jackets have not yet shipped. It looks like we won't have them until probably after the new year.

they're here!

Who's the leader of the club that's made for Lance and Me

I took a break from finals studying to research this new Radio Shack team Lance created for 2010

THIS article was interesting, and somewhat expected. Lance doesn't want to be the main rider of his own new team. This raises the question of WHO then??? Leipheimer? What do you think?

more info about the team can be found here...
http://www.teamradioshack.us/category/roster-profiles/

I'm going to have to admit, not a big fan a Trek, but this ride is pretty sweet.

Dr. Goates' twin or acting career?

Does anyone else think this guy from the gamefly commercial on TV looks like Dr. Goates? Heres the commercial from you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGHEhKo5Ils. I think he might be doing some acting on the side or has a twin brother somewhere.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Turkey Day everyone. Let us be thankful for all the things that we have in life and for all the friends we have. I hope you everyone has a wonderful day and get to eat lots of turkey!!! The fun part will be riding tomorrow to burn off all the extra calories we are going to take in today.

prepare yourself

Beautiful:
That's the elevation profile for the 2009 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. And we're going to replicate it (a considerably shorter version, of course) in the hills and foothills of Michaux.

A Mini-Liege-Bastogne-Liege, if you will. (Though we'll likely call it Ship-Gettysburg-Ship, or something to that effect.)

And there will be a mini-Paris-Roubaix, a mini-Milan-Sanremo, and a mini-Giro di Lombardia.

Prepare yourself. They are coming...

Nice Article

I'll say it, I want to be him-

http://velonews.competitor.com/2009/11/news/from-cat-2-to-radioshack_101342

US collegiate cycling

All the registered collegiate teams in the US in 2009 by conference (ECCC in red):


Here's a close-up:


Yeah, I see us.

And look how big our conference is:


A good place to be a collegiate cyclist, methinks.

...

Of course, if you've already read this, then none of this is news.

(In February, we really need to get an SU rep present at the planning meeting.)

Training exercise

I think it was two weeks ago we played a little game after an easy Friday ride. Dr. Goates had us each try to bump each other off our bikes. I battle him hard but he ended up taking me out. Jimmy put up an excellent fight but was eventually also taken out by Dr. Goates. Kevin did attend but decided to play it safe.

Another Great Sunday Ride

Flying up towards big flat

BIG E
That kids jacked
The group and I suppose he's jacked too

___________________________________________________________________


After reading Chop's post, his 57 mph is very impressive. I'll admit I had to pull out of my aero position and hold on for dear life down that descent. The cross winds were wild and I'm not sure how he was so stable. Anyway, he left out that he pile drove himself into the ground after touching wheels with Big E. It was our first crash in the couple years we have been having these long weekend rides. I thought it was worth noting.

I actually remembered to take some pictures on the ride today- I'm rather proud of how well my cell phone pics turn out

Beautiful Sunday Weather

The weather was amazing today and Big-E took Jon, Mike and myself on a pretty sweet ride. I love finding new roads and new climbs. Almost 5000 ft. of climbing and I set a personal speed record reaching 57.2 mph on the back side of Big Flat. Sweet!

all the proofs

Everything, for your reference (size chart, product descriptions):

black jersey, front view

(remember to reference "pro fit" sizing for jerseys)


black jersey, back view


white jersey, front view


bib shorts


winter jacket, front view

(remember to reference "classic fit" sizing for jacket & vest;
for most people that will mean getting their jacket/vest
one size smaller than their jersey)


thermal winter arm warmers

thermal winter leg warmers

lycra booties

Ship Cycling...HOTTER!!

Jersey proofs from Atac:


I'm digging everything except the font in which "SHIP" (on the front & back) and "SHIPPPENSBURG" (on the side panels) is written.

(I'm also going to mess around with the Sunrise logo a bit.)

Here are my suggestions for a revision (ignore the Sunrise part, focus on the "SHIP" font):


Thoughts?

Ship Cycling... HOT!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/V7Q7Y2TkOBCCzUX5

Half Worlds Data

Here is the data for the ride Sunday. The elevation graph is of a single lap. We did 9. I took it directly from my garmin. The ride was good but it would have been a lot more fun if more people had been able to come. We should come up with reasons to do rides like this more often.

Things Fall Apart

No... not the book by Chinua Achebe you might have read in school.


The Story:
I was out with Jon for a ride this afternoon. There was nice weather, a slight breeze, and it was sunny. Jon and I decided to sprint to an uphill stop sign and I really wanted to beat him so I thew down all the power I could muster. I'm pretty sure I was putting out about 2000 watts the whole time. Then suddenly, my left crank arm fell right off. I'm surprised with that much power it didn't just break, but instead, it fell right off my bike... shoe and pedal still attached. I crashed into Jon going about 30mph and we both flew about 10 feet into a tree. Luckily, we escaped unscathed.


The Truth:
I went out for a nice ride with Jon. My front derailleur was acting up and I couldn't shift into the large chainring. After some adjusting and persuasion.... it still didn't work and now my rear derailleur wasn't shifting properly. I notice a while later that my crank arms were moving. Left and Right. (Not Good). I managed to get from the TNR course to Queen Street by Sheetz until my left crank arm fell off. Yes. Off.

Picture this: Cody going up the road on his bike with his left crank arm dangling from his shoe while the right side was slowly creeping off the chain and bicycle. AkA: a complete mess.

Luckily Jon was nice enough to pick me up. (He could have rode back and drove to pick me up much earlier, but he was enjoying watching my bike slowly fall apart)


What a day....

the (almost) half world championships!

A photographic review...

The players:

2m

Chop

Melnick

Jim

Pat

E

Neutral Support

The first ascent up Horse Killer (if the promoter had had his act together, there would have been some kind of KOM, but there wasn't):


Approaching the finish of the first lap:


Yeah. Only 71 miles and 6000 feet of climbing left.

...

The spoils:

winner's trophy


the three rubber chickens award, third-to-last finisher


the two rubber chicken award, second-to-last finisher


the one rubber chicken award, last placed finisher

...

Results:

1. Mike Maret, The (Almost) Half Champion of the World
2. Jim Hartnett
3. Rider Big E, three rubber chickens
4. Chop, two rubber chickens
5. Pat Hankins, one rubber chicken
dnf (but a tough son-of-a-gun nonetheless) Kevin Melnick