Wickwerks Chainring Review

With the explosion of the Chicago Cross Cup, I've had lots more opportunities to race cyclocross in recent years. 2011 was my biggest season thus far and I have some big cross ambitions for 2012 (more on that in a later post!). Cross is super-fun and super-intense so it has been a great way for me to maintain some of my cycling fitness through the fall and early winter.  Thanks to my brother and his shop (Hub Endurance, Chattanooga, TN) I was finally able to replace my very well-used aluminum Giant TCX with a new carbon Blue Norcross EX.  The frame deserves its own review, but just by swapping frames I shed some weight, gained some stiffness and improved braking performance.

What did not improve originally was front shifting performance.  In fact, for reasons I haven't been able to pinpoint it probably went from barely tolerable on the Giant to lousy on the Blue.  Keep in mind that this evaluation is by my personal standards- I'm guessing most riders would be perfectly fine with the front shifting on either bike. I'm a tinkerer by nature and it bugs me to no end when things aren't working like they should. Compounding matters is the fact that at the beginning of last year I finally converted from a triple mountain bike front chainring setup to Sram's new XX 2X10.  The 2X10 front shifting has to be one of the single greatest cycling innovations ever.  It is right up there with moving from rim brakes to disc brakes on mountain bikes.  Tons of engineering went into designing Sram's XX front derailleur and chainrings.  The shifting is nothing short of amazing. It is lightning quick and simply works in all situations- even under high pedaling pressure which is generally a recipe for an ugly, grinding shift.  I'm going into all this detail about Sram's 2X10 system because it has raised the bar so high, I now want that kind of shifting on all my bikes and I was nowhere close on the new cross bike. It's worth noting that even as good as XX shifting is, lots of racers including Team Kenda-Felt, swap out XX chainrings for Wickwerks chainrings and report even better shifting!

As far as front shifting here's what I moved over from my old CX frame: Sram Force shift levers, Sram Force front derailleur, Sram Force compact crankset with FSA 46/34 chainrings.  Upshifting (from small to big chainring) was both sluggish and unreliable.  Sometimes I would want to accelerate and try to upshift and it would miss the shift altogether.  I've been assembling and maintaining bikes for 15 years, so this was not a set-up or adjustment problem.  It worked, but again it was below my personal standards and way below XX 2X10 shifting.  Since I liked Sram stuff so much the first thing I looked at was whether I couldn't just put a Sram 2X10 mountain crank and front derailleur on the bike.  This would have worked, but the current gearing options are all wrong for cross.  The closest thing they have is 45/30.  That small chainring is just geared too low for most cross courses.  The next thing I looked at was upgrading the old FSA rings.  Keep in mind these are not cheap chainrings.  They are ramped (referring to the grooves machined into the back of the big ring that help the chain transfer) and pinned (chainring pins are generally made of steel for durability and work in conjunction with ramps to improve front shifting).  I've been cycling long enough that some of my first bikes had front chainrings with no ramps or pins.  Riding those old bikes really helped to teach me proper front shifting technique.  What new cyclists don't realize is that there should actually be a very slight pause in your pedal stroke as you shift up to the big ring or down to the small ring.  If you didn't do this on an upshift on an old bike it would just grind away and not catch.  Improved rings/derailleurs have made technique less critical, but I see many new riders just crushing the pedals without any pause at all between up-front shifts- a little technique goes a long way people.....

This is the backside of my old FSA big chainring.  You can see the ramps and pins, but nothing even close to the Wickwerks rings!

Backside of the Wickwerks rings.  Take note of the hefty ramps!

I had heard about Wickwerks chainrings and read a few really positive reviews. I also learned that multi-time World and National champion Katie Compton has been using Wickwerks chainrings for years, which is a pretty solid endorsement!  Currently Wickwerks is strictly a chainring company and as such they have a really refined product.  Wickwerks chainrings actually came out well before Sram's new XX group.  The backside of the big chainring is heavily machined and does not use pins.  Instead it uses a series of improved ramps and Wickwerks' "Bridge" technology.  For a full explanation of the Bridge technology and how it works read this section of the Wickwerks site.  Chris Wickliffe owner/founder of Wickwerks was good enough to send me a set of 44/34 rings to ride and then review.

I've now been riding the chainrings for about 4 months, so this is not one of those "I raced them once and then wrote a review" things.  The back half of my cross season included the always challenging Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa, the Illinois State Cross Championships with lots of training and few smaller races in between.  Swapping rings over was a simple 15 minute job.  I was super-excited to get out and put these things through the paces.  My initial test ride in a local park was somewhat disappointing (keep reading!).  Shifting was a little better, but still not that crisp moving up to the big ring.  I loved the looks of the ramps on these things and knew the shifting should be better than it was.

Back to the drawing board.  On paper this set-up should be awesome.  New rings, newish chain, Force derailleur and shifters. Here we need a bit of cyclocross history and cycling component economics!  Cross has been around for decades, but only recently has it exploded in popularity.  That means for most of its history it was a fringe sport and not really taken into consideration by the big component companies (Shimnao, Sram, Campagnolo). So here's the problem.  Cyclocross tends to be a messy sport so the long-time tradition is to run shift and brake cables along the top tube for two reasons: #1 to keep them more out of the mud than on the downtube and #2 you often need to grab the downtube when carrying the bike and this is easier without cables.  This all makes perfect sense.  Where the system breaks down is the front derailleur.  Up until last year ALL front road derailleurs used what is called a bottom pull orientation (meaning the shift cable comes up from the bottom).  Since cross bikes have the cables on the top tube this created a problem that was sort of fixed with the stop-gap measure of putting a pulley on the seat tube of cross bikes to reverse the direction of pull.  This is a pet peeve of mine and a bad idea for all kinds of reasons.  Reason #1 is that if a race is muddy in the least all this mud inevitably piles up right on top of this pulley with predictable results on front shifting.  Reason #2 even without mud this system adds in unnecessary friction and weight.  Reason #3 this adds to the overall length of the front cable run which degrades shifting just a bit more.

The pulley I am talking about is shown on the bottom right picture above.

I turned my attention to getting rid of this pulley to finish fixing my front shifting performance.  A German company produces a little adapter called an Umlenker that changes a bottom-pull derailleur to a top-pull. I didn't test one of these mainly because it is another stop-gap measure and adds unnecessary complexity to the front derailleur.  My next solution was to try a Sram XX front derailleur since I like it so much on my mtb bike.  Many mtbs use a top-pull orientation, so it eliminated the pulley from the system.  Sram uses the same pull ratios on the road and mtb stuff, so on paper this should have worked just fine.  In practice, I ran into another problem.  I could not stop the front derailleur from over-shifting and falling off the outside of the big ring.  I even went so far as to put in a longer stop screw into the derailleur with no luck. I'm pretty certain (but would like confirmation from someone) that the issue is with the crank spacing.  I believe a Sram 2X10 crank sits further out from the bottom bracket than a standard road crank and hence the over-shifting.  If I had paired with a 2X10 crank it would have worked fine, but, as above good cross gearing does not exist in a 2X10 crank.  All of this ended up pushing me over to the dark side (Shimano).  Sram has been a longtime sponsor of my Evotri team, but beyond that their headquarters is up in Chicago and I just plain like what they've done component-wise in the last decade.  BUT Shimano finally caught wind of this exploding cross phenomenon and created a cyclocross group that finally included....drumroll please... a top-pull front road/cross derailleur, the CX 70.

So I realize that this is way more background than anyone except the most geeky of bike geeks and/or bike mechanics would care about, but I think it is critical when reviewing something to look at all the pieces involved in a system.  In this case that includes: pedaling technique, front shifter, front derailleur, chainrings, cable routing and whether or not you are using a pulley to change cable pull. If these pieces aren't working in unison, then you won't get the performance Wikwerk rings are capable of. With the new Shimano derailleur everything finally clicked.  To get back to the Wickwerks chainrings, they definitely began working as advertised.  Upshifts are super-quick and positive with almost no grinding.  It is not quite as good as my XX set-up but I think that is due to the nature of sti-style road shifters, not the chainrings or derailleur.  I bet if I mounted a Sram thumb shifter on my cross bike instead of the regular road shifter performance would be almost identical. It is worth noting that Chris Wickliffe has a teaser on his website for a completely re-designed front derailleur that looks quite promising.  If it goes into production and works as well as the chainrings, it will make for a killer combo!

Prototype of the Wickwerks front derailleur.

Durability of the rings appears to be as good or better than everything else that is out there.  My rings have been ridden in super muddy races (Jingle Cross) and races with lots of sand (Illinois CX championships).

Diligent chainring testing and Jingle Cross!

Cross is a growing market and I would expect we'll soon see some of Sram's XX chainring technology filter down to compact cross chainrings soon like it did with the new Red road rings this year.  Hopefully we'll also see a top-pull road derailleur from them as well.

A set of Wickwerks cyclocross chainrings cost about $130.  Certainly more pricey than a standard set of chainrings, but I think the performance benefits make it worth it for many racers- particularly if you need to replace a set of worn rings.


Why not run a single chainring?

With all my griping about simplicity I'm sure a bunch of people are wondering why I didn't just go with a single ring set-up which has been gaining popularity.  For a long time you were limited in your gear combinations with a single ring. Now though, you can put a Sram 11-36 cassette on with a mtb rear derailleur and a middle-of-the road front chainring (around 42t) and get as wide a gear range as a double set-up.  Single-ring set-ups save a little -but not much- weight because you still need to add a chain guide.  Simplicity is the strongest argument and one I like.  Cyclocross magazine ran an in-depth article on double vs single ring cross setups a few years back.  At the time all the pros that provided comments for the article were using double set-ups.  The argument that is most convincing to me is that when races get muddy (quite common in the midwest) then you often lose your lowest gears (which you really need in the mud) when mud packs up on the rear derailleur.  If you are in your lowest gear and everything is packed with mud sometimes the derailleur gets pulled into the rear spokes (this has happened to me once in addition to some close calls).  With a single-ring set-up you really need to count on being able to use every gear combination.  With a double, you can do without your couple of lowest gears and still be geared low enough for the mud. Single ring set-ups also have chainline issues, but I don't think that is a make-or-break issue.  I should probably try it before I knock it, but right now with the Wickwerks rings and shimano derailleur I am really happy with my shifting and can think about tinkering with other things....like hopefully hydraulic disc brakes for cross bikes!

Upcoming Cycling / Community Service Opportunities in Bloomington!

Walk In, Bike Out.

April 21^st, 9-11:30am

This project is part of Global Youth Service Day.  The program is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning. http://www.gysd.org/about

http://www.westbloomington.org/wordpress/2012/02/global-youth-service-day-2012/
 

The idea is simple.  We are collecting and repairing donated used bikes that we will put into the hands of needy children & adults on Bloomington's west side. On April 21^st, we will need quite a few people to help out at the Abraham Lincoln Parking deck next to the Law & Justice Center.

I helped out with this last year, and it was an awesome to be able to give away bikes to so many kids and some adults as well.

Here are some of the things we’ll be doing:

•  Help people pick out bikes that are appropriate to their size and use

• Get helmets and locks to the people who have new bikes

• Get the bikes registered - this year we will be registering the bikes with the BLM Police Department

• Make sure people know how to use their bikes - esp. the kids

• Reassure people who come for bikes - esp. the adults - that these bikes really are for them if they need them; sometimes the adults wonder if they qualify - everybody qualifies! we recognize that sometimes a bike is how people get to work, it's not something that is fluff-extra.

• If any of the volunteers can fix bikes, or help with things like making sure tires are inflated, we can always use that help too

Before this event happens there is a lot of grunt work to be done. We need to collect and repair the donated bikes.  Here’s a chance for all you local wrenches to put those skills to some good use.  See below for info on bike work days.  Contact one of the coordinators (Rick Heiser or Greg Shaw) prior to showing up to make sure a work night / weekend is on.

Location: Abraham Lincoln Parking deck next to the Law & Justice Center. The entrance, through the metal double doors, is on the south side of the parking deck. Bring tools so that we have enough to be efficient and productive. 

• We still need to publicize this to churches and other interested community members to request donations of bikes to be fixed up for the event.
• Proposed work dates at the parking deck: Sat March 3- 9:00 to 1:00, Tues March 6- 6:00 to 8:00, Wed March 7- 6:00 to 8:00, Thur March 8- 6:00 to 8:00, Sat March 10- 9:00 to 1:00, Tues March 13- 6:00 to 8:00, Wed March 14- 6:00 to 8:00, Thur March 15- 6:00 to 8:00, Sat March 17- 9:00 to 1:00, Tues March 20- 6:00 to 8:00, Wed March 21- 6:00 to 8:00, Thur March 22- 6:00 to 8:00.
• Greg or Rick will be there on these dates.

Thanks,

Rick Heiser

rrheiser at aol.com

H 828-250

C 217-380-8078

Greg Shaw

gshaw at iwu.edu

The Illinois Sustainable Living & Wellness Expo welcomes Bikes, Bikes & more Bikes!

Saturday, April 14 — 9:00 am-4:00 pm

Illinois Wesleyan University, Shirk Center

Ride your Bike to the Event!

No worries about leaving your bike unattended or even locking it up, you can enjoy the Expo with free Valet Bicycle Parking provided by WGLT Good To Go and Friends of the Trail. Bike riders will get premium parking spots. 

Maintenance/Repair/ Tune-up

Getting your bike ready for riding season… members of West Bloomington Revitalization Project want to help. They will be available from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. to make primary repairs to your bike!

They will inflate tires to proper level for optimum riding, adjust brakes, oil chains, and replace tires/tubes. If someone has training wheels to install they can do that too! There is no charge for these services, and will be provided on a first come first serve basis. 

Don’t know what to do with bikes you no longer want? Put them to good use, donate them at the Expo!

Working Bike Cooperative will be collecting bikes at the Expo that need a new home. These bikes do not need to be in working condition. This organization collects and ships over 6000 used bicycles a year to non-profit projects in developing countries. 

 So… ride your bike, park your bike, service your bike, and get rid of bikes that no longer provide a service for you or your family, in one location…The Illinois Sustainable Living and Wellness Expo.

For more information on this dynamic event go to www.islwe.org

Evotri: Origins

This post is my contribution to an "Origins" series on my Evotri team website.

One of my early 90's triathlon efforts with my brother.

My earliest triathlon memories are fuzzy.  I recall awaking in a secret Canadian laboratory where my skeleton had just been replaced by Zipp carbon fiber and adamantium.  My blood was transfused with Espresso flavored Gu.  I had super powers such as the ability to relieve myself at race pace without breaking stride….

Actually, when I signed up for my first sprint triathlon in 1992 I knew exactly zero other people who had ever done one.  The sport was much smaller back then and I was in the summer between Jr. High and High School. 

Metamora Summer Swim Team circa 1990? In later years I would coach this team of 100+ swimmers.

I had been on a summer swim team since age 9 and had started running track in 5^th grade. In track, I was quickly pegged as a distance runner, but since we were a very small school I volunteered to do a little bit of everything including sprints and throwing shot put.  I still contend that they should handicap gradeshool shotput by weight since I only weighed like 3 times more than the shot put.

My shot put career was short-lived.  

Due largely to the abilities of my teammates, I actually ran the 4X100m relay in the grade school state track meet.  I started Cross Country in 7^th grade and was immediately one of the better runners (albeit on another small team).  For a time I held the 7^th and 8^th grade cross country 2 mile records, but those are long gone.  I ran in the state xc meet in 8^th grade finishing with a high 11 minute 2 mile I think.  

 St. Mary's Grade School Cross Country.  Old. School.

 

 Back in the pre-internet days people always learned about races at the local running store.  In my case this was the awesome and still thriving Running Central in Peoria, IL.  They had a huge row of paper entry forms that I always picked up when I went in.  In the summer of ’92 I picked up entry forms for two “sprint” triathlons: Tri-Tremont and Canton Bi-Tri Classic.   

Tri-Tremont was first and there was no kids division so I did the same distances as everyone else 400m pool swim, 13 mile bike, 5k run.  I don’t recall if I won my age group, but I definitely placed.  Moreover I was hooked on this concept of doing 3 really fun sports as part of one race.  Later that summer I raced the Canton Bi-Tri Classic and this race did offer a shorter distance kids race.  I had lots of success over the years at Canton. I think I won the kids race every –or almost every- year that I did it. As far as I know my record for the kids distance still stands.  This past year was the 20^th anniversary for Canton. One of the triathlon accomplishments I am quite proud of was winning this event (2010 and 2011) that helped get me started.  This coming summer will be the 20^th anniversary of my first race at Tremont.  The event went away for a few years, but has been brought back.  One of my goals for 2012 will be to go back to this race that got me started and try to win it 20 years later.

For the first half of my triathlon career, I literally never trained for the bike leg.  I biked some as a means of transportation, but never really for fitness.  I mostly relied on my swim/run fitness to carry me through all my early triathlons.  I ran and swam competitively in High School (Metamora High School) and in college (Augustana College).  During this time I never raced more than 1 or 2 triathlons a summer and never longer than sprint distance. It wasn't until I finished undergrad that I stepped up to longer races and began focusing on triathlons, but that is more recent history and fodder for a later post.

Making the Team: 2012

Now entering its sixth year, the members of Team Evotri continue to challenge themselves and others to live a healthy and active lifestyle through endurance sports. They have been given an extraordinary opportunity to train and race with the same equipment and coaching as the pros. They continue to dedicate themselves to maximizing their potential, to sharing what they learn from their experiences, and to making a positive contribution to the endurance sport community.

Team Evotri is again ready to welcome a new member to the family. For 2012, Team Evotri and its sponsors have pulled together a one-of-a-kind package to provide an age group athlete the opportunity to train and race like a PRO, while giving back to the triathlon and endurance community. The current team members will be looking for an individual who embraces the spirit of triathlon: a positive attitude, enthusiasm for the sport, desire to improve, and dedication to give back to the endurance community. Years of triathlon experience and good race results are not deciding factors in choosing a winner, but passion is.

The next team member will benefit by receiving an excellent package courtesy of the team's sponsors:

• QuintanaRoo will provide a top-of-the-line CD0.1  frameset with innovative shift technology that will undoubtedly take your bike splits to a new level.
• Zipp Speed Weaponry knows just how to outfit a frame like the CD0.1 with a 404 front and 808 rear wheel set.
• SRAM will add to the bike with its latest cockpit and drivetrain components.
• CycleOps finishes the bike off with its cutting edge SL+ wireless PowerTap hub and Joule 2.0 computer.
• HUB Endurance puts it all together providing a full year of expert triathlon coaching to deliver the newest Evotri athlete to the top of their potential in 2012.

Here's how you can be the next Team Evotri member:

Create a video that's no longer than three (3) minutes. The video should answer the following three questions:

1. Why Evotri?
2. Why You?
3. Can you Evotri?

Guidelines:

• Videos must be posted to Team Evotri's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/evotri.
• Videos must be posted by December 31, 2011, at 11:59 PM CST.
• Videos not within the time constraints will not be considered.

Process:

• The current team members will select finalists from the video submissions.
• The finalists will be notified by January 15, 2012 and will be invited to be interviewed via teleconference by current team members.
• The winner will be announced on February 1, 2012.

Important Notes:

• By posting a video to Evotri's Facebook page, candidates grant contest affiliates permission to use said video for promotional purposes affiliated with Team Evotri and the 2012 contest.
• The winner of the team slot forfeits all awards if he/she is unable to continue as a team member for any reason for a period within two years of joining the team.
• The winner of the team slot agrees to contribute to the Team Evotri web site for as long as he/she is a member of Team Evotri.
• The winner agrees to race in an Evotri team uniform for all multisport events. Winner to purchase choice of uniform apparel upon final selection.
• The winner of the team slot must participate in the yearly Team Evotri event. The 2012 event is a training camp in Chattanooga, TN from April 12-15, 2012. You must be present for the entire time.
• No reimbursement will be made by Team Evotri or its sponsors for the creation, submission or any other expenses associated with the video entry.
• No reimbursement will be made by Team Evotri or its sponsors for any travel, lodging, race entry fees, or other associated expenses in attending Team Evotri activities.

Announcing Evotri - Hub Endurance Sponsorship!

Madison, WI
11/17/11

Team Evotri is excited to announce a new sponsorship collaboration with Hub Endurance, Chattanooga, TN.  Hub Endurance is Chattanooga's premier multisport shop and also offers a full range of custom multisport coaching options. "The Hub" is the only bike shop in Tennessee to offer professional bike fits utilizing the state of the art Guru Dynamic Fit Unit. Hub Endurance also carries Evotri's favorite line of tri bikes: Quintana Roo! Hub Endurance will provide a year of custom coaching and a professional bike fit to all new Evotri members. In addition, Hub will offer discounted coaching services and products to the full Evotri team.

Team Evotri's tagline has always been "Synergistic Multisport" and that concept is something we take seriously.  Synergistic Multisport means that we are always looking for new and innovative ways to interact with our sponsors and supporters.  We don't just expect to be given great equipment, but also to dialogue with sponsors about how that equipment actually performs from month to month and year to year. In the past we have had sponsor representatives train and race alongside the team. Evotri's yearly WIBA training weekend is a free event to anyone who wants to show up.  So when Andy Sweet (brother of Evotri member Chris Sweet) started a coaching company and multisport shop this new synergy was a no-brainer.

Below is a Q&A with Hub Endurance owners Jamie Ingalls and Andy Sweet.

Tell us a little bit about your athletic backgrounds. 

Jamie Ingalls - Former division 1 ski racer, and semi-pro cyclist. Been racing bicycles since 1988 (age 13).

Andy Sweet - 5-time IM finisher, UMCA RAAM qualifier, competitive swimmer since age 6.


Hub Endurance originally started out as a physical location for your coaching business where you could do bike fits and indoor group rides. Pretty quickly you guys realized that people wanted a lot more.  Tell us about that transition from a coaching home base to multisport shop. How has it benefited the coaching side of your business?

The biggest benefit is that it allows us to better care for and equip our athletes for optimal performances. Upon the growth of our coaching business, we quickly realized that most of our athletes were riding improper equipment and were getting frustrated with the process of trying to find/buy the right products. We started bridging that gap with information and recommendations... then eventually clients started asking us to 'just get me what I need!" In addition, Chattanooga never had a retail location dedicated to the multisport athlete (no swim shops, few bike shops with tri bikes, etc); so we decided that with our bike and retail knowledge, we could attempt to fill that gap.

10 years ago there were literally only a handful of serious triathlon coaches in the country, now USAT certifies big classes of new coaches every few months. How does Hub stand out? What are your coaching philosophies? 

Our coaching philosophies are rather simple and effective:

1. We focus on forming and maintaining very open lines of communication with all of our clients. We encourage our clients to call/email/visit with us as often as they can, because the more direct interaction we have with them, the better we are able to assess their fitness, their health, their motivation, etc.
   
2. We believe coaching is much more than providing workout schedules. We feel that we have a responsibility to our athletes to help them progress in all aspects of their fitness, which includes important (and often ignored) aspects, such as form, technique, mental preparation, and stress management, in addition to strength and endurance.
3. We believe in helping our athletes balance their schedules to optimize fitness gains in a realistic amount of time. We realize that most people have full-time jobs, families, and other commitments outside of athletics, so we constantly strive to help our clients maximize the time that they have available, rather than asking them to sacrifice other aspects of their life.
   

Your "Advanced" and "Professional" levels of custom coaching offer quite a few perks you don't usually see from other coaching companies. What are some of those "extras" that you've built into your coaching packages?

We offer features like regular power/HR reviews, which generally other coaching groups charge extra for, because we feel these are essentials for athlete progression. We love going through files with clients, because the more that they understand their performances (strengths/weaknesses), the better athlete they will become. As a full service bike shop, we are also able to offer some other perks, such as discounted bike service/camps/clinics.

Hub made a substantial investment in a Guru Dynamic Fit Cycle (DFU). Tell us about what the DFU does and why you chose it over other fit cycles / systems that are out there. 

The GURU Dynamic Fit Unit is far and away the greatest fit tool designed to date. We researched all the different offerings in the fit world, and were simply blown away by the DFU's capabilities. It allows us to adjust rider position in real-time (no gettting off and on the bike, swapping components, etc), while providing detailed feedback on the riders performance. It allows us to measure aspects such as power output, efficiency, spinscan, right/left leg balance, and even torque angle. After a DFU fit, we are able to provide customers with their optimal position, bike geometry, and component choices.


What is one thing that absolutely drives you nuts about triathletes?

We find that triathletes are very involved in researching their sport, however, they are not always the best at finding factual, supported information. They love internet forums!


Outside of the family relationship, what made you want to sponsor the Evotri team? Was it the across-the-board good looks that would enable any Evotri team member to be a Hub Endurance poster child and drive gobs of business to the shop?  

Looks are everything! But, in all actuality, we are really looking forward to working with the Evotri team to help us announce HUB Endurance to the nationwide public. We have been extremely successful in growing our business locally and regionally, but feel that our coaching structure and talent will be able to help athletes all of the country. Through Team Evotri's large online presence and nationwide following, our partnership will highlight our remote coaching abilities.


Evotri plans to visit Chattanooga next spring for a team training camp. What local ride/run routes will you be sending them on? Will anyone cry?

They will all have the opportunity to train in the mountains and valleys around Chattanooga... the number of classic ride and run routes are endless. But, the infamous 3-State 3-Mountain ride will likely be featured... some will cry.

A Bicycle Built for Two (Huffy Daisy Daisy Restoration Project)

Daisy Bell
By: Harry Dacre (1892)

There is a flower within my heart,
Daisy, Daisy,
Planted one day by a glancing dart,
Planted by Daisy Bell.
Whether she loves me or loves me not
Sometimes it's hard to tell,
And yet I am longing to share the lot
Of beautiful Daisy Bell.

Chorus:

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do,
I'm half crazy all for the love of you.
It won't be a stylish marriage -
I can't afford a carriage,
But you'd look sweet on the seat
Of a bicycle built for two.

We will go tandem as man and wife,
Daisy, Daisy,
Ped'ling away down the road of life,
I and my Daisy Bell.
When the road's dark, we can both despise
P'licemen and lamps as well.
There are bright lights in the dazzling eyes
Of beautiful Daisy Bell.

(Chorus)

I will stand by you in wheel or woe
Daisy, Daisy,
You'll be the bell which I'll ring you know
Sweet little Daisy Bell
You'll take the lead on each trip we take
Then if I don't do well
I will permit you to use the brake
beautiful Daisy Bell

(Chorus)

History was one of my undergraduate majors (literature was the other) and continues to be one of my abiding passions. Naturally, anytime that I can bring my passion for history together with my passion for cycling I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning. This tandem restoration project has been quite a few years in the making, but before I get to that there is another bit of historical trivia that relates to the inspiration behind the original Daisy Bell song.  As the story goes, when Dacre (an English popular composer) first came to the United States, he brought with him a bicycle, for which he was charged duty. His friend joked, 'It's lucky you didn't bring a bicycle built for two, otherwise you'd have to pay double duty.' Dacre was so taken with the phrase 'bicycle built for two' that he decided to use it in a song.

I haven't been able to pin down a date on the bike itself. It is definitely late 50's or early 60's. The first time I saw a picture of one of these I fell in love with it. To me, it is just so iconic of that era. The cars and bikes from that time period both had gorgeous curves with barely a hard angle anywhere. So obviously the bike is good old American steel and quite heavy.  I had saved searches set up on Ebay for years before I finally found this one within a couple hours of home.  Actually I bought two bikes, neither of which was actually in working order.  Both had been stored outside for some period of time, been repainted with probably a can of spray paint and were just generally abused all-around.

Since I knew I didn't have time to jump right into the stripping and painting (I had just started a new job and was in the process of buying a new house and selling the old one) I took parts from both bikes to make a franken tandem that sort of worked.  It was lots of fun to cruise around on, but the handling is complete crap and the gearing was too high.

This is one of the only pics I took of the "original" frame.

Fast forward a couple of years and a friend had found me an original chainguard in excellent condition to repaint.  I thought this was as good an excuse to buy a sandblaster as any, so I picked up one of those and started the hard labor of removing multiple layers of paint and rust.  There were so many problems that I just took everything back down to the bare metal.


Originally I was going to dredge up my rusty and dated automotive painting skills, but decided if I was going to put this much time and effort into the project that I wanted a professional paint job with modern paints. Enter Mike's Collision Center. Mike Mavec is a local triathlete and owner of Mike's Collision.  He had just begun dabbling in bike painting and I approached him with the tandem project. We made a deal to swap a paint job for some coaching-related services.

The pinstripes I am adding in these pics were not original, but one of my personal enhancements!

Don Fogler of Fogler Signs did a great job helping me re-create the original decals that all went under the clearcoat.

After painting, decals and clearcoating it was time for rebuilding.  I was only able to salvage a few of the original parts. The chainrings and seatposts are original but that's about it!  I was amazed at how cheap heavy steel parts are!  The new wheelset cost $45 and the fenders were like $20.  Refreshing since a single tire for my triathlon bike runs about $75!  Getting everything to work took some tinkering.  The fenders and tires are both wider than the originals, but I love the look!  I still need to do some tinkering with the idler pulley that maintains chain tension.

The new bike's maiden voyage was a trip of a couple miles around Lexington.  We live right off old Route 66 and Cara and I did a portion of the ride on the old road that is now a bike path. It seemed so iconic to be riding a classic 1950's American steel frame on the classic highway from the same era!  Really looking forward to having this bike to cruise around Lexington on!

Maiden Voyage! No parts fell off!

So the bike basically handles like crap.  It has a flimsy front fork that has to provide direction for a 50+ pound bike plus two riders.  Little spooky, but the thing isn't meant to go fast!  The only brake is a coaster brake which is pretty effective actually.  I haven't had a bike with a coaster brake in probably 20 years, but it was amazing how natural that braking motion is if you grew up riding old school bmx!

Those of you with short cycling memories probably only associate Huffy bikes with their current line of garbage department store bikes. In the 1980's Huffy invested heavily in supporting professional U.S. cycling and developing cutting-edge race bikes.  The 7-Eleven cycling team rode Huffys for a few years that were actually re-branded Serottas (Huffy made their own copies for the average racer).  In the 1984 and 1988 Olympics athletes aboard Huffys took home gold and silver medals.  Huffy even got into developing time trial bikes and eventually triathlon bikes.  Mark Allen's 1991 win the Ironman World Championships in Kona was aboard a Huffy Triton (pictured below).

Early Huffy Time Trial Bike

Greg Lemond Raced on a Huffy for a time.

Even "The Donald" likes Huffys!  Backstory here.

Mark Allen won Kona in 1991 aboard one of these!

So what's the next project, you might ask? Well I've got something at least equally as cool as the Daisy Daisy in the works: an Evel Knievel 10 speed!  As far as I have been able to determine this is one of the first production bikes to be equipped with a disc brake! Check out the video of the man selling these bikes! Mine is currently in considerably worse shape. When I have this thing done and find a stars and stripes jumpsuit to match, I am going to be so badass!

As easy as 1,2,3?

8/5/11
Canton Triathlon
1st Overall

8/20/11
Xterra Illinois Wilds
2nd Overall

9/3/11
Great Illini Half Ironman
3rd Overall

Well this has certainly been a roller coaster season!  My attempt to race well at a big Xterra event in April didn't really go as planned.  I enjoyed the challenge but the results were lacking.  I knew that our new baby girl in early June was going to entail a significant break from training.  The rest of the summer was one long struggle to get back into competitive form.  My strategy was to race a lot and hit just about every workout pretty hard since I was on a low-volume training program.  I didn't feel like I came into short course racing form until August.  By sheer coincidence early August was also when my Evotri team all got new Quintana Roo bikes.  The bike has been really good to me so far!  I literally put it together on a Friday and then raced to an overall win the next morning!  I think I've won 3 out of 4 of our local Tuesday Night Time Trials on the new bike.

Suffering on the new QR during a time trial.

I'm going to give condensed race reports for my last 3 races.

8/5/11
Canton Triathlon
1st Overall

This is a local-ish sprint race and one of my all-time favorites because I have been racing there for so long.  This year was the race's 20th anniversary and I actually participated in the kids race there 19 years ago!  This is a real roots race for me and being the 20th anniversary, I was gunning for a win.  It was also Cara's first triathlon back since having Lorien in June. 

Chris Camp, a good friend from my grade school and high school swimming days has shown up as part of a relay the last two years.  We were both sprinters, but he ended up a big Division 1 school where he did quite well.  The week before Canton he pulled out a 47 sec 100 yard freestyle, so he's still got some speed!  In the swim, I jumped on his feet right away and hung on for dear life.  Fortunately for me, he doesn't have much open water experience and I held his feet for about 75% of the race.  I blitzed through transition and jumped on my new Quintana Roo CD0.1.  About 3 or 4 miles into the bike leg I had taken over the lead including the relay teams.  I usually feel terrible on the bike during sprint tris, but my legs finally felt good for this race.  Temps were good, winds were low.  I averaged 23.5mph for a somewhat rolling course and still had a lot left in the tank.  I hadn't been happy with my runs all season and wanted to turn in a fast 3 mile split.  I took off with that intention, but it is really hard to push deep into the pain cave when you aren't chasing anyone.  I ended up running a 17:36 for the somewhat hilly run.  My time was about 2 or 3 seconds slower than when I won the year before, so that at least showed my race form was finally coming around.  Cara managed a win in her age group and good friend and fellow Tri-Shark Aimee Dziekan took the overall win for the women.

8/20/11
Xterra Illinois Wilds
2nd Overall

If you are one of the few that actually read everything I put up on my blog, you will recall that originally 2011 was going to be my big Xterra year, hopefully culminating with the World Championships in Maui.  A variety of factors -chiefly financial- derailed this plan this year.  I love racing Xterra, but the midwest races mostly require long drives and overnight trips which is hard with an infant and 3 year old!  Anyway, this is the second year for Xterra Illinois Wilds which is held near Peoria, IL (about 1.5 hours away from home).  This swim was 800 yards.  I knew that Chris Scott who won last year would be near the front as well as my friend and local masters swimmer, John Pratt.  This was a 1-wave start, so I really got out hard so that I wouldn't get caught up.  I was near the lead for a bit, then caught John's feet for a few hundred yards until he dropped me.  I think I came out of the swim in around 4th?  I had done two mountain bike races this season, but really didn't get out to train much on my mountain bike.  This bike course is actually quite technical and doesn't give you much opportunity to just open up and use your general cycling fitness.  I was pushing pretty hard and taking some risks until I got into second place.  Then I washed out on a loose corner and later went down really hard when I caught a handlebar on a tree.  Some spectators saw my wipeout and just stood there with open jaws, so it must have looked pretty spectacular.  Those two crashes caused me to slow up a bit and take less risks. 

I'm riding a hardtail 29er this year, coming off a full-suspension 26er.  The carbon hardtail is fun, but I think I will eventually want to get back to a full-suspension bike for Xterra.  As for the 29er vs. 26er debate, I don't think it is nearly as big a difference as people (and manufacturers!) make it out to be.  The 29er is definitely better over obstacles and for high-speed descents.  The 26er is better in tight terrain.  I can't tell that the 29er has better tire contact, which is a common claim. 

As for the rest of the race, Chris Scott had first place locked up after the ride.  I lost much less time to him this year than last which I was happy about since they added a couple miles to the bike course.  For the rest of this race I ran hard, but really just hard enough to defend second place.  Chris Scott cruised to the win about 6 minutes in front of me.  I'll take that since I don't think he has lost an Xterra race in the midwest the past few seasons!

Only other thing worth noting about the race is that Ryan Sutter of "The Bacherlotte" fame showed up at the race with a full camera crew.  As I understand it he was chasing Xterra points for either nationals or worlds and was in Illinois for the Chicago Triathlon.  As I recall, he raced Kona by actually qualifying rather than taking a celebrity slot. He is a Colarado native, so I had no idea what his off-road skill might be like.  He ended up 5th about 6 minutes back from me, so a pretty solid showing- particularly since I believe he did the Leadville 100, one or two weeks earlier!  Minus the camera crew, he pretty much just blended right in with all of us.  Nice guy from what I could tell.

Post-race at the Xterra.  Note the birdhouse award and recovery drink!

9/3/11
Great Illini Half Ironman
3rd Overall

Like lots of things this season, choosing the Great Illini Half Ironman was a compromise.  I wanted to finish the season with at least one half Ironman to see where my long course fitness was at.  I also had my eyes on Branson 70.3 and Rev3 Cedar Point, but eventually defaulted to Great Illini because #1 it had the cheapest entry fee, #2 it was the closest and #3 I thought I had an outside chance at winning prize money.  I've actually won this small half twice before, but it didn't have prize money back then.  I didn't have time to do much volume this year, so I wasn't sure how I would hold up for a half.  On the right day Great Illini can be quite quick and I thought I could turn in a time somewhere in the 4:20s.

We did not have the right day.  We had a downright sucky day. The race was the beginning of September, but summer temps decided to hang around for another week.

I traveled down to the race with good Tri-Shark friends Laura Wheatley and Aimee Dziekan.  My go-to pre-race restaurant when I am racing in Matoon has been the Amishland Red Barn Buffet and this trip certainly didn't disappoint!  It's also Jonah's favorite because they have 4 colors of jello.  A Dos Equis Amber at a little Mexican place by the hotel topped off my pre-race nutrition preparation.

Pre-Race Buffet Goodness!

Who shows up at this event is a big toss-up.  The prize money has pulled in a few pros and top age groupers in the past.  This year the only one I knew for sure that was coming down was good friend Andrew Starykowicz.  There went first place (but I think having Andrew race actually helped me. More on this later).  Water was really warm and well above the wetsuit cut-off. I don't like swimming in a wetsuit if it is above 75, but I also don't like racing in bathwater even without a wetsuit.  I ended up in second behind Starykowicz for most of the first lap of two.  Second lap my lack of swim training showed itself and I lost a little time to a group of about 3 athletes.  I hit transition in 31 minutes and change which isn't great for me, but not bad for a non-wetsuit swim. 

The temps at the start of the bike weren't too bad yet.  My long bike training consisted of 3, 3 hour rides where I pretty much figured out what sort of power I could currently maintain for 56 miles.  I was targeting 225-230 ave and ended up just a little under 225.  Out on the bike I actually felt really good and started picking places back up.  I think it took me about 15 miles to move back into 2nd.  The course is mostly flat, but has a bunch of turns including 5, 180 degree turnarounds.  The course had to be re-routed over some pretty rough roads that beat all of us up as well.  One the second lap some of the olympic distance riders began to mix in with us.  One guy went around me so fast I just assumed he was racing the olympic.  For the record, when racing for prize money, it is really not a good idea to ASSume!  It wasn't until an out-and back around 45 miles that I realized I was now in 3rd and down by quite a bit.  I put some extra effort into the pedals, but was pretty fatigued at that point. My ride was 2:26 or about 23 mph.  Not my best, but ok for this season.

By the end of the ride it was pretty hot and humid.  Having done the race a few times before I knew it was completely open with no shade.  It was scarily similar to the terrible conditions the day I won the Effinham Half Ironman a couple years ago.  Starting the run I knew getting close to my PR was out of the question.  Instead I just wanted to keep myself in the prize money and maybe move up to second overall.  I started out at a pretty conservative pace that I knew I could maintain in the heat.  I felt ok given the conditions and put some effort into the middle miles to see if I could close the gap on second, but he was running really well, so I went back to my strategy of defending third and not blowing up.  The aid stations each mile couldn't come soon enough.  The temps were in the 90s with clear skies and heat index around triple digits.  I utilized one of heat management strategies of dumping iced down my jersey and pants....and then eating that ice between aid stations!  It is a beautiful, I just recycle all my electrolytes!  Run was one of my worst ever times (1:40) which contributed largely to my 4:40 finish time.  For comparison I've ran under 1:25 and finished under 4:25 on this course in better conditions.  In any case, that time was still good for 3rd overall and my biggest triathlon pay day to date.  I'm pretty certain that having Starky show up actually kept me in the money because it kept away some other racers who knew they wouldn't win overall, so didn't show up.  Thanks man!  Seems like the hot race didn't phase Andrew much since he went on to win the Rev3 full the following weekend!  8:28 for his first full seems like a good debut!

I think all of that leaves me conflicted over the season.  I knew it would be really tough having a new baby in June, but it was REALLY tough!  For a long time (see Lifetime Fitness race report!) it didn't seem like I was going to be able to get back into shape.  I don't think I ever did get into very good long course shape, but I've got to be happy with these results from my last 3 races.  Even if they were smaller regional races all of them had some good competition.

I had lots of friends and teammates racing IM Wisconsin and Rev3 Full and it really made me want to step back up to that distance.  I just don't see it happening soon though.  When I go back to Ironman racing I want to do it right.  Sabbatical in a couple of years (assuming I get tenured) might be my next legitimate opportunity.  Until then I am looking forward to getting better at cyclocross this fall and then racing Triple-T with my Evotri team next spring!  That sorta counts like an Ironman, right?!