Santa Clarita Cycling

Tour of Utah

Veloron — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:53:38 +0000

Is it me, or is the coverage of the Tour of Utah pretty spotty?

Morning Ride

Veloron — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:55:57 +0000

The drivers of Santa Clarita were in rare form this morning.

To the man, woman or child driving the gold camry,
Passing my bike and I while we are traveling at 25+mph only to immediately brake so that you can make your right turn has the following effects:

It creates a very dangerous situation for me
It causes my adrenaline to flow, which tends to agitate me
It may cause me to respond in an aggressive manner
It may cause you to end up in jail like a certain doctor we all know and love.

I also loved the woman in the white SUV who decided to brake at the green light when she saw me approaching from behind. Usually, maybe not always, green means go. Braking at a green light confuses me, and can also agitate me (some may say I am easily agitated).

Lastly to the citizens who feel the need to drink and drive, and them throw your glass empties out into the gutter. You are truly wonderful people.

Now I feel better.

Newhall Bicycle Company End of Summer Ride BBQ and Sale

Veloron — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:08:51 +0000

This Saturday Newhall Bicycle Company is marking the end of Summer with a 7:30 am road ride followed by a BBQ and sale at the shop. It sounds like the road ride will venture into the sf valley and then towards the beach for a ride totaling about 75 miles. There will be a shortened route option as well with a detour up the infamous Box Canyon. That ride should total about 37 miles. Either way it should be a good time for all. If you can’t make the ride, come by the shop afterward and see if you can round up some deals and grub.

As of right now there is no mountain ride planned. If people are interested in getting one together, call the shop and let Roger know.

http://www.newhallbike.com/

The Curse of the World Champion Stripes?

Veloron — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:52:28 +0000

While Lance Armstrong was winning 7 Tours de France and taking over the world of American cycling, I always wondered why he didn’t have the the world champion stripes on his sleeves like everybody else who has won that prestigious event. You see, if you win the world championship in cycling, the next year you get to wear a special jersey with the world champion stripes on it. Then as an extra bonus, you get the honor of wearing the stripes on your sleeves for the rest of your career. Lance never seemed to do that. I am not sure if it was some kind of “not living in the past” kinda thing or what, but I rarely if ever saw him “showing his stripes”.

That all changed this year with Radio Shack. I noticed right away that Lance was wearing the stripes. I still don’t know why, but he was. Is it a coincidence that this year, with the stripes, he has the worst luck of his entire Tour de France career? Are the stripes responsible for 7 years of bad luck coming down on him in 3 weeks?

Positively True

Veloron — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:46:15 +0000

As I was participating in my morning ride, dodging cactus leaves (are pieces of cactus leaves?) in the “bike lane”, otherwise known as the gutter that runs along Newhall Ave., I was able to take time to think about the Floyd Landis bombshell dropped this morning. It was only a month ago that I picked up Floyd’s book, Positively False at the .99 Cent store. I have almost always been a Floyd fan, and wanted to check out the book in which he apparently denies doping over and over. I say apparently because I haven’t read it, and frankly probably won’t now. I also say that I was almost always a Floyd fan because I had to renounce my fanship when that guy, who I think was his manager, made the now infamous call to Greg Lemond where he decided that child molestation would be a humorous thing to bring up to Greg during Floyd’s hearing for doping. Anyway, while Floyd didn’t make the call his manager did. And as I have always believed, and tell my kids, you are who you hang with.

Floyd throwing Hincapie, Armstrong, Leipheimer and Zabriskie under the bus reeks of “Why did I get caught, and you guys didn’t”. Do those guys dope? I have no idea. All I know is that they haven’t had any positive tests yet. Personally, I feel that a lot of guys have doped and got away with it. I also believe that many riders today are still doping, they are just able to hide it more effectively than others. I hope that I am wrong.

I just think that it is unfortunate that this has to come out during The Giro and The Tour of California. I am enjoying both very much, and it is a shame that cycling is once again going to be dragged through the mud during these great races.

Flanders 2010

Veloron — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:29:12 +0000

Photo Sirotti

As everybody already knows, Fabian Cancellara won the 2010 edition of the Ronde va Vlaanderen. If you didn’t get a chance to watch it, Cancellara simply put on a clinic. Powering away from Boonen on the steepest part of the Kapelmuur while remaining seated was amazing to watch. Over the top of the Kapelmuur he went in to time trial mode and put over a minute into Boonen, making it look easy in the process. He was so smooth, it didn’t look like he was even trying.

Of course my guy Hincapie finished 6th, again missing the critical move. To his credit, he looked comfortable on the climbs. He just failed to make the move when he needed to. Will he make it through Roubaix this week without a mechanical? Will he have the “killer” instinct and confidence to make a move? Will he ride carbon wheels in a classic AGAIN? Who knows? Certainly not me. I do look forward to watching it though.

Photo Serotti

Photo Bettini

This Is Nice For A Change

Veloron — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:09:38 +0000

This was refreshing to read for a change.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/in-a-first-lapd-chief-vows-to-better-protect-cyclists-train-officers-on-biker-rights.html

A Little Something From The Cyclocross Channel

Veloron — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:48:51 +0000

With the World Championships coming up this weekend, thought I’d share something from the Cyclocross Channel.

Wishing Katie Compton good luck and good health this weekend!

Ambrosio Tubular Wheelset

Veloron — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:57:47 +0000

It’s not often that I see something that I must have, but this may be it. Nothing says Northern Classics like these wheels and tires. Plus, they’d look sweet on the Torelli.

Too bad 1200 bucks is not in my current budget.

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/road-bikes/product-components/2009-ambrosio-complete-handbuilt-tubular-wheelset-6331.41.1.html?utm_source=VeloNews&utm_medium=FLASH&utm_content=300×250&utm_campaign=AmbrosioWheels

Tubeless for Cyclocross

Veloron — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:16:52 +0000

I just received my Hutchinson Bulldog tires for the cross bike, and am very excited to get things set up. The issue is the Stan’s No Tubes kit. I am running Open Pro wheels with Chris King hubs, which seems pretty straightforward. However from everything I have read, the Open Pro is one of the rims that there seems to be an issue with when setting it up for ‘cross. I have read that the channel is too deep, making it necessary to run 1-3 rim strips along with the tape and the ‘cross specific strips. Having read several different postings, I figured that I’d go directly to the source, to try to avoid wasting more time than necessary. I emailed Stan’s and here’s the response:

“It depends on the rim. Some people need to add some extra tape on top of the open pro to make the tires fit tight with our cyclocross rubber strip.”

It depends on the rim? Aren’t all, if not most Mavic Open Pro rims the same? I guess I have to just experiment, which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place.