the delft blues

Aah Delft, home of the famous blue pottery, johannes vermeer and delft technical university, organisers of this weeks race. Straight to the race then :-P Its funny how 1 lap can change your whole image of a race. Almost 30 guys turned up for A-klasse this week despite (or perhaps for the excuse to play in) the snow and thanks to seeding, I was able to get a good start position. The start was pretty fast, if you had the racing line like me, but plenty of people went exploring the deeper snow off the racing line and some even succeeded in picking up speed. I entered the first singletrack around 12th place I guess but soon got restless. There was some slipping and sliding and some people even unashamedly made snow angels close to the icy parts of the track. With a bit of luck, some pushing and shoving, and some annoying beeping from my heart rate monitor, which seemed to think i was operating at 102% of my max, I made it into 6th place by the end of the 1st lap.



I was lucky enough at this point to be tucked neatly in the wheel of the number 1 ranked rider in the championship, who had had a bad start and was working his way to the sharp end of the race. It didnt take us long to catch the 3rd place rider, who we both passed, and then I decided I was bored of watching Kees' back wheel and I let him ride away from me. So there I was, 4th place, pretty happy with myself, everything working fine, until I got overtaken, and then overtaken again. At this point, even tho I was in 6th place, it felt like I was having a pretty average race, with the great unwashed about to trample me as they came passed. Even the stairs became challenging...



But thanks to the encouragement of the canadian avenger, clearly feeling at home in her natural habitat (snow), and the fact that everyone was feeling the pace a little, the great unwashed never caught me. And then that 1 Lap I was referring to earlier happened. The mud and snow decided to annoy other people and I was free to clip in to my pedals first time after each of the 3 sections where running was well, erm, faster. The guys in 5th place hardly noticed me go by he was trying so hard to clip in, and then suddenly, I was right behind the guy in 4th place, who later told me he had already all but given up trying to clip in at this point. All that was left was some hard pedalling, a daring overtaking maneuver on the last corner, and voila, 4th place!



anyway, this puts me in a 3 way tie for 7th place overall, 2 points behind 6th place, 3 points ahead of 10th. and it looks like the snow might just hang around until boxing day in leiden.

delft cx race heart rate monitor stats:
duration 57:25
heart rate max 194 (this is getting a bit silly now)
heart rate average 182
1038KCal 15% fat
(Changed wheels and forgot to move the magnet for the speed sensor so no speed this week. I would however estimate the speed to be: not very fast, and the distance to be: not very far, this is cyclocross remember)

nice mud

dordrecht cx race heart rate monitor stats:
duration 56.20
heart rate max 193
heart rate average 183
1045KCal 15% fat
16.4km, 34.3max, 17.4avg (speed sensor was this weeks' bike upgrade)



aah dordrecht, the oldest city in zuid holland, population 120000 density, 1500 people per square kilometer. and just on the outskirts of town, cycling club drc de mol found the space to set out a great cyclocross course with plenty of nice winding singletrack, a bit of elevation gain and loss and mud, glorious mud. around 20 guys arrived for the A-Klasse, including some pretty fast guys meaning that 1st and 2nd place in the championship came in at 6th and 7th respectively. and I came in 8th :-)



last week in the snow it seemed like every time I pedaled hard I ended up sliding off the course, well that was my excuse at least for the average result, and hardly being tired after the race. dordrecht mud however seemed to be what my skinny hutchinson tires were designed for, I felt good, pedaled hard and was really really tired after the race. things are getting interesting in the overall points standings, and while this 8th place brought a decent number of valuable points with it, I stay in 11th place overall. 4 more races to go. until Saturday in delft...

snow racing

that's me in the background wearing every piece of winter cycling clothing i have. it was pretty cold, even when we got going, but somehow manageable. and while it wasn't the coldest (see previous blog post), it definitely was the snowiest day of riding ever for me. at least half of the course was racing on packed down snow, while the other half was churned up mush of snow, ice, sand and grass. good times :-)



i think this one was taken during the warm-up. we normally get about 20mins on the course after the masters' and ladies' races finish. it was more of an -up tho, cos i cant say i managed to get warm... the result of my slipping and sliding and occasional face-planting? 15th out of 20. slipping down to 11th place overall. not fantastic as i struggled to find a rhythm for the first half of the race. the second half of the race was better, as i found that rhythm, overtook some people, stayed on the racing line, mostly, and on the bike, mostly. in a few short wintery days we get to do it all over again in dordrecht.

aerodynamic upgrading

yesterday was my coldest messenger shift on a bike to date. thank goodness for army surplus stores where I found some awesome gloves the day before for 6euros! I also finally found a use for the dorky scarf type things I bought for my first snow experience 7 years ago but never really used. face-covering-dork-scarf-things are the new beard. and after a days riding and heavy breathing through them, im pretty sure they'd repel almost all insects, and most humans.



the hard working titanium bike got some aerodynamic fake titatium upgrades for the day too. the pretty shapes got me thinking, and there's plenty of time for thinking while delivering packages, about aerodynamics. mostly because the shapes the fake titanium formed, over and over no matter how many times I tried to shake it off by hopping over imaginary obstacles hidden by all the fake titanium on the ground. these new shapes however were familiar, look at just about any over priced and engineered time trial bike and you'll see them. but they were formed by the air leaving the bike, mostly just air leaving the wheels, not by the air approaching the bike. now I had heard that a lot of aerodynamic design was about helping the air leave the object smoothly, but it was interesting to see it in practice. or maybe my brain was just a little cold...




anyway, I couldn't let the work bike get all the upgrades this week. I spent some hard earned money on some new brakes for the cyclocross race bike. I've read mixed reviews about the frogglegs brakes, but because the spooky origionals are pretty hard to come by, and around double the price, in the name of losing weight and increasing mud clearance, I decided to give them a try anyway. they even got a koolstop pad upgrade before the test ride. i hear these pads are the best in the business, so i look forward to testing them out in rijswijk at tomorrow's race

good busy in gouda

gouda cx race heart rate monitor stats:
duration 52.13
heart rate max 192
heart rate average 178
921KCal (just less than 2 big macs, without cheese)
15% fat (big macs are 50% fat, before the cheese)



the weekend started with a little pre-race dura ace, amazing how much attention around the world a simple low quality shot of a high quality bike can attract :-) i was really hoping to save this derailleur from the wear and tear that cyclocross seems to put bike parts through, but after 5 years waiting in the wings (for the special bike project that just might come to fruition early next year) it was time for mr dura ace rear derailleur to take the stage



anyway, lets just say that nothing is forgotten about as quickly or underrated as much as a drivetrain that works. good thing too, cos there was a fair amount of aspect to the course in gouda so it was really nice to be able to shift cleanly and crisply (for an old, worn chain with bits of other chain spliced in to get rid of the twist it developed when the last derailleur died a while back at least). otherwise the course was great with plenty of tricky corners, some bits that reminded me of my sand pit as a kid, and some great energy sapping off-camber muddy grass sections



14th place out of 22 starters was a little disappointing, it was a tough battle with ronald (above) from gaul amsterdam, which he eventually won, respect. i stay in 9th place overall, but the points helped narrow the gap to 7th and 8th places overall (who were also in the race). i wont be at the race next weekend, which wont help in the overall points classification, but should help with the overall fatigue sensation, and hopefully also with the bronze complexion. thanks to fotokoos and ronald's girlfriend for the photos. and thanks to keelie in her absence (beterschap) for her support and the post-race cookies, without which, the rock-star-life-on-a-fast-food-budget (aka catching the train to and from the out-of-town races) might have been just a little hungry and lonely ;-) until 2 weeks time in schiedam

a very average race

I've thought about it for a while now, and I think I've figured out why this weekend's race in Numansdorp was so, well, average... It wasn't because I wasn't feeling 100%, when do we ever feel 100% anyway. I kinda always think about an interview with an old tennis pro (I don't remember who anymore) when he was asked if he had any injury problems, and he replied that being an athlete is basically about constantly managing injuries. In all honesty, apart from lacking a little explosive power, I felt pretty good on the start line.



But still, the race was average... Basically I got beaten by guys (all respect to them) that I normally beat. Maybe I've been lucky so far or they've been unlucky. Either way, not the result I was hoping for: I did move out of a 3 way tie for ninth into 8th place overall, but it was more due to people not being there than due to good performance. Next I blamed the course, which was great as it wound around trees with some pretty nice singletrack, until we had to ride on a beach. Now, I'm not particularly heavy, but I sunk like the fat kid into the soft sand. And I couldn't help but think the others were mocking me as they rode away. 8 laps really tried my patience.



In all honesty I can't blame the bike either, it got some great upgrades this week. Perhaps I was even worried that I would have such a great race I wouldn't know which upgrade to give the credit to. The old shimano 105 hubs that got converted from 7sp to 9sp got swapped out for some nice shiny second hand actual 9sp dura ace hubs. The trusty 35c clincher tires got swapped out for some 30 or 32c - yes, I aware that narrow tires are not advantageous in sandy conditions - tubular tires (oh how I love tubular tires). So it wasn't me, the course or the bike... I blame the weather. I mean it was almost sunny and warm enough for short sleeves. Not even a spot of rain. Thats not cyclocross weather. Hopefully it will be better in Gouda this weekend :-P

beer brake

The 18th edition of the halloween alleycat was a great excuse to visit Berlin again. It was also supposed to be the 2year reunion of team beer break which came together spontaneously at the prenzopoly alleycat. Unfortunately however, although all 5 members from around the world made plans to be there, when it came down to it only Morgan and I made it, while I guess the others had spent their monthly travel budget on, well, beer... I'm so proud. This is Morgan's unimpressed face at the slackness exhibited by team beer break. It was soon replaced by that happy face we know and love after one of the many different vegi burgers we sampled along the way. The food in berlin rocks...



Sober October came to an abrupt end on the 29th. I can't decide which was more stupid, not drinking for a month, or ever starting again... I was gonna try blame this somehow on the guys from ESK (a berlin cycling club, something to do with steel pigs, but thats all that i can remember about them) who organised an epic night time cyclocross dual slalom race in a park, 1 euro entry fee, including a beer... but yeah, that wouldnt work, good times

October was however a relatively cheap month, well, no that's not exactly true, what I didn't spend on beer I spent on bikes, the cheapness was just a matter of perception. I've been trying to make small incremental improvements on the cx bike each week, last week was new cleats and studs in the shoes (which attach to the bike). This week some tubular cx tires will see action for the first time. Thanks to the guys at cicli berlinetta for a sweet set of Hutchinson shark 32c tires.

cx race #3 (actually #4 of the series) - honselersdijk

now its starting to get really interesting. rain, cold, mud... almost all the ingredients are present :-P a friend on mine here told me that when he used to play football at school, they used to dread going out into the westland because the wind was always howling, and the kids they played against were always twice his size. well the wind was howling, it was raining, and cold, but it was still a good race out in honselersdijk



being just 15km from home, it was a rare opportunity to ride to the race, that is without wearing down the precious tread on my only set of cyclocross tires, but the weather kept the support crew to a minimum. im still not sure what inspired willem jan to come along for the ride, but it sure was good to have someone to laugh while i inhaled multiple snickers bars after the race.



staying up late the night before the race to disinfect my aging drivetrain and replace gear cables seemed to pay off as the bike worked almost perfectly. had a little trouble clipping in, but yeah worn cleats in the mud, its not suprising really. anyway, my 10th place finish out of 29 starters moved me up from 13th place overall (i think) into a 3 way tie for 9th place overall out of 43 competitors so far in category A. missing 1 of the 4 races so far doesnt help when it comes to accumulating points, but its early days with still around 9 races to go. next race november 6th in numansdorp, looks sandy...



i finally got some club kit so now i get to look all serious like the rest of the guys there while playing in the mud. thanks again to foto koos for the photos, and yeah if you think i look silly, there are more photos here :-P

polomotion bonus

321polo they shout. team super comes back from obscurity to represent one more time at bikemotion/polomotion 2010 in Utrecht. we only played two games tonight/Friday night, one we lost 5-0 and the other we got a walk over, so far I'm liking our average...



as a bonus however I managed to find a 68x103mm BSA jis bottom bracket for my new oldschool dura ace 7410 cranks :-) thanks to the guys at pristine, and ofcourse the guys at sugino for being one of the only bigger manufacturers to make this obscure size, and yes that is a 750ml chocolate milkshake in the background, dinner of champs

as most of my bike fixing time has been spent getting the polo bike ready this week, I guess some late night tinkering is in order on the cyclocross bike, and then a little rain dance before bed :-P

160km that was actually 172km

but who is complaining..? the weather was amazing, i even took my leg warmers off for the last 40km to see if i could catch some of that sunshine. so the first part of the vacansoleil4challange started and finished on the scheveningen boulevard not far from our house and it went just fine. i only managed to ride the first 30km or so with the people i planned to ride with but for one reason or another i ended up riding with a group of 6 guys who seemed to be in quite a rush to get it over with. we did the 172km in 5hr22mins including 2 short breaks for bananas and krentebollen and all my equipment went just fine. including my tubular tires for which i had no spare :-P i have ordered another tire which i will put on the back wheel and take the ever so slightly worn back tire along as a spare from now on. oh and i even spotted the boogie man at the finish

cx race #2 - zoetermeer

breakfast part 1

breakfast part 2

i already knew that cyclocross was a stupid sport, but i discovered this week its also an expensive sport... i expected to go through plenty of brake pads and at least the current rims im using, and well, the drivetrain im using is a bit worn already, so riding in the mud is a good excuse to wear it out. but rear derailleurs? i didnt plan to go through too many of them.

about halfway

i guess neither did all the other guys and girls i saw pushing their bikes back to the start during the course of the days racing. the mud on the zoetermeer course was pretty special. it really stuck to everything. it was wet on while it was on the ground and then it dried and accumulated when it touched a bike.

bye bye 105 derailleur

so broken derailleurs were the order of the day, and i got a nice one on the second last lap... at that point i was in 5th place of 26 starters battling it out with the 6th place rider and occasionally spotting the guy in 4th ahead of us. last week, in gouda, i finished 8th out of 15, and the guys who finished 6th and 7th there, ended up in 8th and 9th at this race. so yeah, i was feeling pretty good and happy with my race, and im over it now, but at the time i was pretty bummed to have to pull out. the thought did cross my mind to pick my bike up and run the rest of the race, which i started doing even though i was probably carrying more mud than bike, until i had been passed by 4 or 5 guys and i couldnt be bothered any more.

the canadian avenger spotted

anyway, next week there is a 160km road race/tour starting here in scheveningen, so getting muddy (in a race) again will have to wait until honselersdijk on the 23rd. i have a stand-in old skool shimano 600 rear derailleur (thanks willem-jan!) but i am seriously considering doing the next mud bath singlespeed. any ideas on a good ratio?

scuffed saddles and scratched brake hoods

is what u get from doing criterium races in the wet. well i guess that only applies if you're like me and go from telling yourself to take it easy (and just finish somewhere in the middle of the bunch), to being pretty much at the front of the bunch going into a slippery hairpin, and realise that you had a little too much faith in those new tires of yours...



well,i wasnt alone as at least 5 other people went down in the same corner, and im not sure exactly how much i had to do with that, at least as far as i remember, i didnt touch or get touched by anyone as we did a little tarmac surfing together. anyway everyone got up and continued the race after straightening their bikes out so no major harm done. my ridiculously light saddle got a few grams lighter, the comfort level unaffected, for better or for worse



the races happened at the local den haag bike club HSK Trias at their closed course. but this is the tail end of the road season, and the calm before what promises to be a storm of a cyclocross season!!

pyjamas and wheelbuilding

so i find myself with some time on my hands. time to think about just how perfect pyjamas are for building wheels in, and put it to the test. this mornings wheel brings the total in the house to 12. i have a very tolerant girlfriend, only 2 of them are hers :-) but as any bike nerd knows, each one is special for its own reasons. and yes im talking about bike wheels here. this mornings wheel is a rigida dp18 built on a white industries eccentric eno with dt swiss competition spokes, to be used on my cyclocross bike. if all goes according to plan in races, either fixed or singlespeed, i havent decided.



i also finally got round to making a base for the wheeltrueing stand, which is important as its gonna get even more use over the coming days. last saturday night saw a sneaky conversion of a donated shimano 105 road hub from 7 to 9 speed freehub body, and a shimano deore lx mtb hub from 9 to 7 speed. the lx hub is only being used as a singlespeed anyway, and this means i have a set of road hubs to discover is there really is anything to the idea that tubular tires are the better

bed time reading

lots of nice shiny wheels are being built in the living room of the beach house these days. i even built one for money. kind of the opposite of normal. being paid to build a wheel rather than paying to build a wheel. but without getting to ride it, so kinda like being given a bar of chocolate for free and not being able to eat it i guess... anyway it was fun fantasizing with the idea of writing 'wheel builder' in the profession section of visa forms or questionnaires.



i feel like a bike nerd for thinking this, but this book is bloody marvelous!

no more piece of wood and hammer

what can i say, im a sucker for that new tool smell. now its not that my trusty block of wood and nice big hammer havent served me well over the years, in fact many a chris king headset has been put into a custom built frame using this method, to the horror of any onlookers. but when a good deal comes a long, its hard to pass the opportunity by to expand my tool collection



so the sycip starts its 3rd incarnation with new powdercoat and reinforced disc mount. jay and jeremy did a wonderful job as usual. great to have another excuse to buy new bike bits again. this time around the sycip will have less gears, but i doubt thats gonna leave any money over for me to have more beers. see you at sswc10 in rotorua?

old and new toys

got the snowboard out on a swiss hill a week ago. first time cartwheeling down the slopes in about 5 years! i gotta say that switzerland is a(n expensive,) well organised country. catch the tram to bern central station, put your credit card in the ticket machine and next thing you know you have a train/bus/ski lift ticket and youre ready to go. faster, cheaper and easier than going by car



and to reward myself for making it up and down the hill so many times without serious injury, i bought some new bike parts. been wanting to try this little innovation for a while now. supposedly lighter and stronger than conventional rails. actually way lighter than a thomson seatpost and a slr saddle. doesnt seem to have taken off tho, so theyre nice and cheap on crc. time will tell if theyre as comfortable and durable i suppose. so far so good tho

hairy legs on the track

last week was my first time on the amsterdam velodrome, and i admit i was a little intimidated. its 200m long compared to the 250m im used in alkmaar which means the turns are considerably steeper and sharper. and when i say im used to alkmaar, after only 4 times thats being a little generous with confidence. so with this confident generosity, my best dutch and a bike i rode there and cleaned in the parking lot, i talked my way into a free training session. needless to say, me and fish were the only people on the track without shaven legs but we put on our best lycra and fish even broke out his chrome bmx helmet for the occasion, i'll try get photos next time. speaking of photos, riding to work just started looking up...



turns out there is a sweet network of trails just waiting to be strung together each morning thru the multitude of little green areas between home and work. perfect cyclocross bike territory, finally. otherwise a stroll along the beach promenade is always an option. apparently the beach is being extended from 40m to 70m - coastal defence they say - but the engineering doesnt stop where the water starts. apparently a designer was contracted to come up with a sea floor that produces better waves. cant wait till some swell arrives

alkmaar track day

this happened last weekend:



thanks to taka, fish and tjeu



it was all about face melting speed in the scratch race. cheers to pierski for the photos



respect to kees as he and i snagged a 2nd place in the team sprint. cant wait till the next one

now what?

there's no snow like the snow in osdorp, and there's no cereal like chocolate coated sugar bombs

fridays off

suzue track hub gets a QR upgrade. 3rd lifetime of wheel begins :-)

winter blues?

hoping these will be the cure