One of the coolest things I own...

This is a super rare Japanese National Champion Mapei jersey. It was given to me by a friend who stayed at my house in Boston in the winter of 98 for a while who was apparently friends with this dude and had one of his jerseys. I didn't know too much about cycling, but I still kept it because I thought that I could sell it to some of these dudes who would frequent the rave scene.

Since he didn't care at all about cycling and wasn't about to wear this thing around town, but only to the disco, he left it at my house. It was still dirty from the last race it was worn in. What makes this jersey so cool is that it is from one of the most powerful teams ever assembled (Musseuw, VDB, Tafi, the list goes on and on) The rider is Yoshiyuki Abe, and is a pretty accomplished rider in his own right. He was on the 1997 Mapei GB team...



Check out his palmares...
http://www.dewielersite.net/db2/wielersite/ploegfiche.php?id=9738

The first real jerseys Ben, Chris, Al and I designed for Team Hopkins were loosely based on this jersey I believe.

Another reason I love this jersey so much is that1997 was the year I started cycling. I can still vividly remember being in my apartment at the Broadview in Baltimore and watching the Tour for the first time in my life. As customary during those summer months, tehre was a heavy downpour and I could hardly hearthe commentaries due to the frequent thunderstorms. Strangely there are no thunderstorms in Boston...

They actually had thrilling riders back then, like Cipollini, Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Jalabert, Pantani, VDB, guys who could literally drop a gernade into the peloton at a moments notice, or headbutt their way to victory. Racing seemed very different back then. I had so much more passion for pro road racing. I thought the red Saeco train was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I still have a framed Campagnolo poster of Der Kaiser. My favorite bike of all time is from that era and is a MBK world leader edition ridden by Belgium's prodigal child.

After watching one race, I went to ATA cycles while I was home on vacation here in MA and bought my first road bike. It was a KHS Aero Turbo and the dude there assured me that it was the "best bike ever built"(We all know who this is). It was designed by Leonard Zinn, and had this curvy seat tube. It had something like shimano 105 or something like that. Unfortunately that bike got crushed by UPS on its way down to Baltimore. It was when they were on strike and they did not give two shits what happened to my bike. With the insurance money I ended up buying a Bianchi Trofeo with Campagnolo Mirage and Miche components. I truly loved that bike.

To run or not to run...

"People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck.

It's scary to think so much is out of one's control.

There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back.

With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win.

Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose." From Match Point 2005.



It is constantly amazing to me how a split second decision made in a race can ultimately change the course of events for all those who are directly or indirectly involved in that race. As I was running up the small run up in the Bedford race this weekend, I made a last minute decision to run down the hill instead of trying to clip in admist all of the chaos. This small decision turned out to be crucial since the young gentleman in front of me hit a small divot in the ground and flipped over the bars since he did not take the time to clip in. I would have surely gone down with him, and into the trees.

I am going through a strange time where I am really suffering and having a tough time on the cross course. It is not like last year where if I wanted to pick it up a notch I could and make up 5-6 spots. Now I feel like I am riding almost right near the max and I really can't even get going for a sprint at the end. I think I am going in the right direction. I remember a particular race in in high school when I ran the 2 mile. I felt good so I sprinted the last lap. Much to my surprise, my coach was totally pissed at me and told me that if I can put in a 65 second quarter for the last lap, I was totally slacking off during the race. At the time I thought that the dude was just a J-Hole but now I think I understand.

Cross is a pretty interesting sport. At times you can use different sections of the course to your advantage, at times it can be your worst nightmare.

This week, I would like to write a bit more of something that is fascinating to me...

Nosferatu

Life Goals

Alberto Tomba once said "In life, I have but one simple desire...to tear down the sky."

Although Mr. Tomba's goals are a bit pedestrian, after many beers I have been heard uttering my one life goal, which is to have long free flowing hair which forms curly wings from under my Lazer Genesis helmet. My current role model is Professional Cyclist Colin H. Murphy. He has realized this dream, and is a constant inspiration for me. He started with nothing, and look at him now, driving around in a Mercedes E-class, girlfriend, a 6 figure professional contact.

Recently I decided to take firm and direct steps in achieving my life goal.

1) I looked in the mirror and said, "No more barbers, only stylists for this head."

So the quest continues. Yesterday I ventured off to a Salon to get a $40 dollar haircut. The place was literally 6 stories tall with crazy girls running all over the place with funny things in there hair. So this is where and what girls do after work...

I had approximately 40,000 hairs styled to perfection. I was assured that I would have free flowing hair for all of the verge races NEXT year. Would Rogaine make my hair grow faster? Also is there a direct and linear correlation between riding your bike fast and losing hair?

The Desalvo gets some serious SuckerBrook Time....

The day started ordinarily enough. I loaded up my two pearl white bikes and headed to D&D's for some freshly made egg and ham sandwiches. Roughly about the same time "The Zanconato" was casually deciding whose hearts he would like to put in the HUP microwave while ironing out his short sleeve skinsuit.



I was not at all nervous about this race. Strangely enough, after Agawam I have been pretty good about not getting too nervous about the races since my main goal for the season is to Bowl a 210 game at the local Bowling alley, and learning how to sail my new 45 foot yacht.



Currently there is a super annoying euro guy outside the house talking loudly on his phone. I started taking flash photos of him, which he does not like. I think it is pretty funny, like I am a papparazi. but I digress.

Conditions were perfect for the Suckerbrook. Similar to the last two editions, it was warm, sunny and fast...

I have to go to sleep now. I am very tired. Perhaps I will use valuable work time to write something spectacular.

The Shakers

On Saturday Meg and I traveled up to Harvard MA to go to this thing called the Fruitlands museums. It is a very special, and strange place indeed. Apparently this was the location of one of the Shaker settlements. For those who are not aware of what the Shakers are, you should not be ashamed. I did not either. you can read up all about it on this thing called the World Wide Web. Anyways, I had some really good BBQ at this county fair and ended the day by going to a nice orchard where I bought a carton of Peaches. I discovered this awesome pear called the Bartlett Pear. It is a cross between a normal pear and a Japanese Pear. Very very delicious.

Now for some serious news.

Free OJ!

Nano V-Brake report

After the torrential downpour which seem to bring Boston Traffic to its knees, 7 of us(Mattison, PVB, Nick, Seth, Alex, Cary and myself) met at the Harvard Training grounds to get some laps in. The course was totally worked. There were enormous puddles, the depth of which I could not even fathom. I took my pit bike to test out the Nano-Brakes I just installed last weekend. I wanted to try out the V-brakes in the rain because I was told that they are very effective in all sorts of weather.

Equipment update...

I am using Tektro RX5 brakes with stock pads, and Dura Ace 9spd STI levers.

Currently my wheels are very true so there is no rubbing on the brakes when spinning the wheel around, which is a good thing I suspect. The first thing I noticed while going into some corners is that the brakes, with very little pressure, will slow down the bike, even if the rims are completely soaked or covered with mud. I did notice by the end of our pretty tough 1.5 hour workout that my front brake pads were pretty worn out and I could easily pull the lever to the bars. Even at this point, I was able to confidently stop the bike. This setup has about 2mm's of clearance between the rim and the pad(Pictures to follow) which is about the same amount I had on the BR550s. Even through the mud and the grass, it seemed to be enough clearance for me. I am totally impressed with these brakes and will install these on my race bike with an upgraded SwissStop Brake pads. The brakes are much mushier than on my Shimano BR550, but the lever action is so much lighter that my hands are not tired after a hard workout with lots of braking. I will also be adding a noodle with a built in barrel adjuster so that the bike can accomodate rims of different widths, which I was not able to do with the Shimano BR550. I think I may be the only one on the circuit using Nano V-brakes, but I think they are totally worth it, and if it is a super muddy race, I hope to be coming in to the pit for a bike change.

Technically speaking, the closer you have the pads to the rims, the less mud should get on your rims right? Since they will be scraped off by the pads? These ideas have not yet been tested.

Race schedule

September
Sucker Brook Cross Auburn, NH 9/16/2007
Corner Cycle Coonamessett Eco Cyclo Cross Falmouth, MA 9/22/2007
Bedford Springs Cross Race Bedford, MA 9/23/2007
Amesbury Cyclocross Amesbury, MA 9/30/2007

October
Casco Bay Cyclo Cross Portland, ME10/6/2007
Downeast Cyclo Cross New Gloucester, ME10/7/2007
Gloucester Grand Prix of Cross - UCI (VERGE NE #1) Gloucester, MA10/13/2007
Gloucester Grand Prix of Cross - UCI (VERGE NE#2) Gloucester, MA10/14/2007
Catamount Cross ( non USAC)Williston, VT10/20/2007VT or CT?
Mansfield Hollow Cyclo CrossMansfield, CT10/20/2007VT or CT?
Catamount Cross (non USAC)Williston, VT10/21/2007VT or CT?
Southington Cyclo CrossSouthington, CT10/21/2007VT or CT?
Canton Cup Cyclo CrossCanton, MA10/28/2007PEAK RACE

November
Chainbiter 9.0 Cyclocross - UCI (VERGE NE#3) Farmington, CT11/3/2007
Cycle-Smart International Cross - UCI (VERGE NE#4) Northampton, MA 11/4/2007
Plymouth Cyclo Cross 1 Pymouth, MA 11/10/2007
Plymouth Cyclo Cross 2 Plymouth , MA 11/11/2007 Putney or Plymouth?
Putney Cyclo Cross Putney, VT 11/11/2007 Putney or Plymouth?
(Trenton NJ USGP #3) Trenton, NJ 11/17/2007
(Trenton NJ USGP #4) Trenton, NJ 11/18/2007
BRC Shedd Park Cyclo Cross Lowell, MA 11/18/2007
Bay State Cyclo Cross - UCI (VERGE NE#5) Sterling, MA 11/24/2007 PEAK RACE
Palmer Cyclo Cross Palmer, MA 11/25/2007

December
Stedman Grand Prix of Cross - UCI (VERGE NE#6) S.Kingstown, RI 12/8/2007
NBX Grand Prix of Cyclo Cross - UCI (VERGE NE#7) Warwick, RI 12/9/2007

Milford Race Reports AN INSIDERS VIEW..

My good friend and Hup teammate Pierre Vanden Borre took the hole shot at Milford Clasic at the Thunderdome and battled with a West Hill guy until his formidable opponent could no longer afford the high rents at the PainCave. After his untimely eviction, PVB gently put the poor dude's heart on the little conveyer belt they have at finagle bagel and shot it through the rapidly rotating blade of death to have two parts of a still beating heart in which he placed some just ripened avocado, some romaine lettuce, and Ecuadorian cheese to make a heartocado sandwich.

The End.

P.S. This race was awesome. It needs to have a little more elevation, and maybe be twice as long, but it was a cool venue. I lost so much time battling my bike on the potholy, wet turns right before the first barriers. I easily lost 10 seconds there every lap. Contrary to what most people said, I think the barrier in the sandpit was a really cool feature. I went to get my pit bike after the race and noticed that my rear dugast tubulars were flat. It is a good thing I didn't go in for a bike change. After the race, my hands were completely worked from the braking. I know I know, less braking. But I can't wait to try out the Mini V-brakes in a race situation. The lever action is so fricking light on these thing that you can literally come to a complete stop using just one finger. I noticed this weekend that when I was out of the saddle, I could hear the wheel rubbing against the brakes. I am curious how this will be with V-brakes which are even closer to the rim. Ciao for now, and well played Vanden Borre.

NANO-V-Brakes

I would like to write a nice review of the brakes and post some pictures, but I am brain dead, so maybe later.

Squeaky Squeaky!

I just built up the DeSalvo cross bike and rode it pretty hard yesterday. The bike is built with Empella Froglegs and SwissStop Rat brakepads. I could not believe how much fricking squeaking and fork shuddering there is. I can't even stop the bike without the whole neighborhood getting pissed at me. Then, after tightening the bolt that tightens the brake post, I noticed that it just keeps spinning. The whole set up is totally stripped! I never really liked these Empella froglegs, but I just spent $30 on getting some super nice pads for them. Sigh.

So my new big thing is Mini V-brakes. there are some promising articles on weight weenies and roadbikereview where people are using Mini V-brakes with road levers and having success with them(Predictable braking in wet, no squeaking or shuddering, and inexpensive!) I bought a pair of Tektro RX5 to test out. They are only 25 dollars for the whole set. Insane. I would love for them to work out. Have any of you guys tried Mini V-brakes? I spend way too much time worrying about the perfect brake system, but someone has to be thinking about these things right? Of course the best would be a super-light mini disk system. I am at the airport now flying to Wisconsin for a wedding.