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