a guide for ohio noobs to get into the sport

I wrote this for a friend thinking of trying his hand at racing. Thought maybe it could be a little informative to those thinking of diving in. My first few races I was a mess with upside down numbers, grease on the legs, etc.

Welcome to the fabulous world of bike racing.

Chapter 1: What to wear

One must wear a helmet. Said helmet will need to be affixed accordingly, not tilted up like a dork.
One must attach racing number upright and pinned with no less than 8 safety pins. If its flapping around you look like a goober.
One must wear a jersey and shorts that don't show the entire peloton ones bum. Replica jerseys unlike the acceptability in nearly almost every ball sport is the most uncoolest thing ever.

Chapter 2: Bike
Make sure your tires are aired up to proper pressure.
Make sure your chain is clean so you don't get rookie rings, cat 5 tattoos, etc. (black rings on your calves) - so not cool.
Its not about the bike.

Chapter 3: How well will I stack up?
Probably crappy.
But you'll never know until you try. You will be racing with Freddie McFrederson on his Scattante with 2 dork discs and a horn, Jimmy CantHoldhislineson, Triathlete Tom, and future cat 1er Peter PerfectPants.
In other words, a wide range of athletes will be out there.
So, if you are thinking you are a Peter more than a Jimmy, I would suggest you stay towards the front, as is often heard when looking for 'racing 101' info. On the other hand, if this is your very first race, and you haven't done a lot of pacelines, and group rides,
you are probably safer to the group if you are at the back. Besides you'll get the best draft.

Chapter 4:So.... lets race!
Right. But first you need to know how to do it.
If you are doing your first race you will buy a 1 day license when you register at the cost of $10
Registration for bike races is around $25-40. This helps pay for the cops to control intersections, the cost of setting the race up, and paying the prize money for the fast guys.

Go to ohiocyling.org, usacyling.org, or any of the local team websites to get more information on races.

If you can't beat them, look like you can.

so fast. (looking)

I can wear these with a tux


Heel Cup System is the bees knees, ankles, and most of the bees leg.

These are the brakes

Avid Shorty Ultimates. Very strong. Very cool. Very Euro. Well not really euro at all, but they are strong and cool.


Threw on some new Yokozuna cables for some smooth shifting to get me through another season of cross.

In other news I was on the computer at 12:01 to be among the first to sign up for Cincy. OHHH yea.

Got some my wheels laced up too. Uber strong. Mavic Reflex:King Cross Hubs:DT Supercomp:32h 3x F&R:brass nips:Challenge Grifo 32- still need to pick up some skewers and a cassette.

And lastly, I want a superX.

but for now...

I must make do with what I have. These will be used this year on the trek.
Chris King Cross Hubs.

2011

OH bike shop dreams when its really busy can only mean one thing... 2011 releases starting to come in. I WILL get a 2011 CAAD10 frame.

I LOVE the road bike i am on now I could only be happier if it were an S-Works. I also like my cross bike.

Do I build up a caad10 road frame and build it with campy just because I've always wanted both a caad frame and campy just to say I've had it. But when would I use it?

Do I build a cx10 frame? I could build it up with sram- and transfer over my new badass wheels and brakes I am getting for the Trek this year (more on that at another date). Make the Trek my Winter Bike, and make the cx10 a badass cross racing machine? Ohhh that sounds good.

oh, and when are carbon Dura-Ace pedals finally going to be released?!

okay. Sub 16lb caad10 cross bike slowly being built up for fall of 2011 sounds good.

a loss, a win, a loss and a win

Chippewa- AWESOME RACE! Wish I got into a better position. my fault, I probably wouldn't have got in the money anyway. loss.

Vultures Knob- Win. Sport class, but a win. I can now upgrade to 'expert'. and get my ass handed to me.

Westlake 5/25- tire blows out with 2 laps to go- loss, pete baughman wins the race- win.



Next up,
Das Tour De Frankenmuth (in my best impersonation of Conan O'briens impersonation of Arnold Schwarzenegger)

RATL #4

Cold.
Rainy.
Windy.
Real Windy.
I mean, really. It was Windy.
Try to be blocked from wind, doesn't help too much anyway.
Take off early for sprint, because as everyone knows I can't actually 'sprint'.
Best field finish at RATL this year. Ended up 9th. 1st cat 3. (not that it matters, but I like to polish turds)

I know thats not a picture of me at RATL. But its proof that I ride mountain bikes.

Next up,
Chippewa Creek. See you there.

RATL #3 , OMBC #2 the Grassman, and dorky bike stuff

Saturday was RATL #3. Debut of the new helmet. Legs feeling better. Took a few flyers, and was fairly active in the race. My sprint sucks. Went from the race to brecksville to meet up with some of my non cyclist friends and did a recovery ride from brecksville to the winking lizard on the towpath. I somehow spent $30 by myself.

Sunday, I decided to switch gears and play in the dirt. I raced sport class. It was dry when we lined up, and off we went. I got the hole shot, looked back and they were wayy back there. By the top of the first climb, another rider latched onto me. I was pacing the first lap, and we got a good lead. I happened to take the wrong line in the rock garden, and had a pretty nasty crash. The other rider thought I was dead. I wasnt. But my bike frame is all scratched, and my tailbone is killing me today .It was nice riding with Jordan(the other rider) though, he even chilled at the top of the wall on the first lap for a minute til i caught up. 2nd lap sucked. It started raining pretty good. Me and the other rider were still together when we hit 'the wall'. A gajillion ft climb hill where it was a hike a bike. I was dropped here, and luckily only had a mile to go. I somehow got 3rd place. Neither me or the other rider remember seeing 2nd place guy pass us?? Must have somewhere though. I didn't get the win that I wanted, but atleast I got $19 bucks and wasn't eaten by the grassman. I would like to race at vultues knob on the 22nd, and have a better result.


In other non-related news. I got this little guy:



The most euro-pro saddle bag you can find. Scicon Phantom 230. Made in Italy. Can only stuff a tube and a small c02 air chuck in there. Attaches to the seatpost via the roller 2.0 quick release system. So just twist the entire bag for it to release. Also another cool little feature is it comes with 2 tire levers sort of built into it as seen here:


A little heavy with the quick release system. But worth it for the pro points.



oh, and heres a little picture to help bridge the gap between talking about the amazing features of a seatbag and the Bone thugs:

yup.