SB Nation User Blog: ssmith

Solvang TT Gala

ssmith — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:04:48 -0000

For folks who will be in Solvang for the ToC TT, there's a fundraiser event that evening in town. $75/person or $1k for a group of 10. Dinner, wine, and "surprise celebrity appearance" (my money is on Bob Roll), music, dancing, silent auction and other assorted nonsense. RSVP by 2/12. www.tourofcalifornia-solvang.com.

Just in case you have some extra money to blow.

These are extra words. Really, no need to read them unless you want to.

Bike buying delimma

ssmith — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:48:30 -0000

Ok, here's the riddle...

Option A: Used 2008 Specialized Tarmac SL2. $2500. Upside: It's an $8000 bike for cheap. Downside: No warranty for the 2nd owner (and Specialized bikes seem to break a lot). Random: The current owner sprinted on it to a national championship recently.

Option B: New 2009 Specialized Tarmac SL through my racing team's deal: $2700. Upside: It's a $5000 bike for cheap. Full warranty. Downside: It's not quite the bike that the SL2 is.

Assume equal/equivalent parts and wheelz and whatnot. Actully, the used bike might have somewhat better wheelz.

So, what would you do?

Brake pads...

ssmith — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:29:34 -0000

Hi-
Here's my situation. Training wheels = alu clincher. Race wheels = carbon tubulars. I'm too lazy and cheap to swap brake pads before/after each race, but the regular rubber is quickly destroyed by the carbon. Any suggestions for good pads that work well for both?
thx-
s

Do the test...

ssmith — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:48:44 -0000

At first glance, this might seem a bit irrelevant, but trust me. Do the test: http://dothetest.co.uk/ And then forward it to others.
ss

Feet on the ground in Solvang...

ssmith — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:22:32 -0000

Once again, the stage 5 ITT is held in my hometown of Solvang. Despite being a cycling mecca, I'm one of two racing cyclists in the entire village, so it's encouraging how excited the town gets about this event. The rain you see on TV is real. And it's wet and cold -- and the forecast for next week is sunny in the upper 60s... Irony.
So here was the plan: My buddy Jason who lives on the TT course out in Los Olivos (right before the climb) drove to my house in Solvang this morning at 7:00. We were going to ride down highway 101 on the coast the 40 miles to Santa Barbara, and hook up with friends Gary and Chester, and a few of Gary's friends from "back East."
The weather was beautiful as we noodled out through the valley and over the pass down to the 101. As soon as we went through the pass, it started to rain. A lot. We now faced a 25 mile headwindy slog in the rain to Gary's house. Between us, we had four flat tires. I was shivering. We arrived at Gary's place 1/2 hour late, soaking wet, and pissed off. Weather.com had betrayed us badly.
At Gary's, we threw our stuff in the dryer for an hour, gorged on oatmeal, and tried not to go the way of Jackson Stewart.
After awhile we headed out, climbed over the highway 154 pass (remember ToC 2006?) and descended back down into the Valley. The rain came in fits and spurts (and a few downpours) and the wind came from all directions.
After a total of 70 miles, we arrived at Jason's house, pigged out, and sat on the porch to watch the riders go by. My throat hurts from screaming.
I wish I had something more insightful to say, but I'm tired. Here are a few observations:

Dave Z's mustache is straight out of a 1970s porno flick. And his USChamp TT kit is really sweet.
Bettini looked defeated.
Cipo and the rest of the Rock squad have the coolest kits I've ever seen (they're also a staple of many of the races I do -- but the green is new).
Fabian looked rough.
Levi was FLYING. We were sitting where they were really slogging down the mouth of the headwind and everyone looked like they were pegged. But Levi was FLYING. FLYING. It was really impressive.
I love the SuperFan.

After the Levi came through, we put our wet socks and jackets back on, rode over the Ballard Canyon climb and dropped the 6 miles back into Solvang to the S/F line. I bumped into Bjarne Riis and I saw Bob Roll. But mostly I saw a lot of my riding/racing friends, none of whom looked as cold and dirty as me (because they drove). Because of the crowds, I got separated from the rest of my friends (who were separated from one another). After some brief searching, I dropped down the hill to my house to take a warm shower.

So, a great 4.5 hour ride in the rain with friends, followed by good eatin' and front-row seats at a pro bike race. Can't beat that.

Halloween Costumes...

ssmith — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:58:00 -0000

In case you didn't see this already. Fun reading...
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/humour-8-halloween-costumes-for-cyclists-12934

Quote of the day...

ssmith — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:25:10 -0000

I figured that some of you might like this. I'm preparing for a new class I'm teaching this week and reading an article published in 1898 that is considered to be the first ever social psychology experiment. It focused on the speed of track cyclists riding alone or in competition (essentially, why do people in direct competition perform better than people competing alone against a record).

Here's a great quote:
"The excretion of nitrogenous products is directly proportional to the amount of work done. The blood, surcharged with the poisonous matter, benumbs the brain and diminishes its power to direct and stimulate the muscles, and the muscles themselves, bathed by the impure blood, lose largely their contractile power."

They go on to speculate that the leader of a race can't win in a "spurt" due to the acids produced by "brain worry."

Kinda sounds like my weekend...

Betsy Andreu interview

ssmith — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:31:58 -0000

If, like me, you like to listen to podcasts when you ride (which you should never do because it's dangerous), check out the competitors radio show.
Really interesting interview recently with Betsy Andreu about the culture of doping and Lance. I imagine that lots of it is in the new Lance-Landis book, but it was interesting to hear it from her directly.
Check it out here: http://www.competitorradio.com/ or download via iTunes.

Neuvation Wheels - Product Review

ssmith — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:04:00 -0000

About two months ago, I purchased a set of Neuvation R28 SL3 wheels. They originally listed at $499, but I got them on sale for $399, plus a ceramic bearing upgrade, which took the total price up to $409, delivered to my home. Right now, they're advertising the same set for $299! Neuvationcycling.com

I bought these wheels to serve as my daily training wheels, replacing a set of Ksyrium Elites that I've had for about 4 years. My goal was to get a solid set of wheels that were simple, lightweight, relatively robust.

After two months, these wheels are awesome! At an advertised weight of 1540g, they're lighter than my Ksyriums and the ceramic bearings seem to give a smoother ride going downhill. They might lack some degree of the stiffness that a deeper section rim might bring, but I've not noticed any sponginess or lack of responsiveness. And I've really banged them around - we have some mountain roads here that have the worst pavement you can imagine (i.e., more gravel than pavement -- including some sections that are really just gravel). I've blasted down some of these roads, shaking and rattling through 6in deep potholes and these wheels remain completely true and solid. One caveat here is that, at 125lbs, I'm not as naturally hard on wheels as some folks, but what I lack in density, I make up for in intensity and quantity (2 months = 3k miles).

The ceramic bearing thing was new to me. The kit comes with all the bearings you need as well as the gizmo to install them. The installation was relatively straightforward and required only one trip to my LBS to use a tool that I didn't have (I also had to cleverly use some dental floss in the process, but this also relates to the tool issue). Although it's probably unclear what difference it really makes, the website claims in increase of a few watts, which seems fairly substantial for such a small addition. But, as I say above, the place where I think that I notice the difference is in descents that feel just a smidge faster and smoother.

Other tidbits: The rear hub has a pleasing, but quiet click-click when freewheeling. The spokes are simple and easily replaced when needed. The hubs have about three parts, which is about right. A handful of extra spokes and nipples come with the order.

Overall, I'm really pleased. The only things that are potential drawbacks are: 1. No bling or sex appeal. Even the website is drab. 2. Gotta use rim tape. Is it me, or does that stuff weigh about 100lbs? That's it. Honestly, I like these wheels so much that before I strap on my Eastons prior to races, I really have to convince myself that they're really any better. In fact, I have a buddy who uses the Neuvations as his racing set and has some tricked out (and much more expensive) Ksyriums for training.

The bottom line is that there's no beating the price on these solid, lightweight, and straightforward wheels.

Help me pick a new bike

ssmith — Thu, 10 May 2007 03:32:53 -0000

Due to an unfortunate accident, I'm in the enviable position of buying a new bike frame. I've got about $2500 to play with (and lots of team/shop/loyal customer discounts).
The relevant stats: I race a lot - primarily road races. I'm a Cat 3 and "specialize" in climbing.

Here are my main options so far (see the poll)...

Poll

Pick a bike frame for Steve

Pinarello 4.13 or whatever.

1 votes

Giant Advanced

1 votes

Cervelo R3

6 votes

Scott CR1 SL

6 votes

Specialized S Works

2 votes

Storck 0.9

2 votes

Ridley Helius

2 votes

Trek Madone

1 votes

LeMond Something or another

2 votes

23 votes | Poll has closed