valygrl

thought i would ask.

Racer Ex 

globecanvas

sarals 

@valygrl, I noticed you didn't ask me. Don't you know I LOVE climbing?

valygrl

Yeah sarals I knew it wouldn't be on you to-do list.

sarals 

Maybe on a motorcycle...

Bandera

"The Six Day Bicycle Races, America's Jazz-Age Sport" by Peter J. Nye and it's accompanying DVD are highly recommended for a clear concise history of what the pinnacle of bicycle racing once was:

"Bicycle racers were America's superstars of the Roaring Twenties".

Replete with period photos and illustrations, written in 26 chapters with focus on the riders, mechanics, the tracks and not shying away from the dubious practices of the era it's a must read (and watch w/ the DVD) of an era we'll never see the likes of again.


My first coach and my mechanic/mentor were both involved with racing on the board tracks pre-WWII.
What they taught me many years ago is still in use every time I swing a leg over a bike, this book & DVD gave a bit of insight into the world of racing that they came from.
Hard times, and very fast hard men.

-Bandera

Hermes

Here is some vintage footage from a Six Day Race in Madison Square Garden in NYC. Note that this is a Madison Race where two racers race together as a team. They used the Madison push exchange that has been superseded by the Madison throw.


Here is the 6 day in London featuring Cav and Wiggo.

Bandera

Thanks, that was great!

-Bandera

sarals 

+1!!

Racer Ex 

Aside from the spectacular scenery of the eastern Sierras, one of the things that makes the long drive down to Velo Sports Center tolerable is an opportunity to listen to some of my favorite podcasts.

Found a particularly good interview from Marc Maron's show, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Very broad and its subject matter and well worth a listen.

One of the topics discussed was Jabbar's book on the 761st tank battalion in WWII, an all black unit that fought at the Battle of the Bulge.

I bought the book and started reading it while I was down there. Tonight I was watching the new season of Archer and they actually had a reference to that unit in the show. That was pretty cool.

revchuck 

Jabbar has a deep interest in African-American military history. I've read the same book, and IIRC there's a street on Ft. Hood named after that unit. I visited Ft. Davis while doing a short tour at Ft. Bliss, and was only slightly surprised to see him narrate a film on that former 10th Cavalry frontier post.

Just FYI: There were four regiments composed of black Soldiers with white officers that did the majority of the work of securing the western expansion of our country during the last quarter of the 19th century - the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry. They were known as "Buffalo Soldiers". To this day, the 10th Cav's unit insignia is in the form of a buffalo. General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, who commanded the American Expeditionary Forces that we sent to Europe during WWI, got the moniker "Black Jack" from the time he commanded the 9th Cav when he was a colonel.

I think it would be awesome to hang out over a pot of coffee with Jabbar.

Hermes

My former drive from San Francisco to LA was less inspiring. Key landmarks were the women's correctional facility, one very large feedlot outside of Bakersfield and going over the Grapevine.

Hermes

Eclipse anyone?

Even here in CA, we are going to be affected. We lose some light and about 5000 megawatts (this is a lot of power) of solar power. Hopefully, the CAISO electrical system operator has it properly programmed.

The change in load will be relatively fast both in reduction and ramp up after the eclipse passes.

For those that are not electrical power engineers, the challenge in managing a large scale electrical system is that the power produced MUST always equal the power consumed. There is no storage capability in an electrical system that is of consequence and controllable. If the production consumption equation is out of balance, the frequency changes. So instead of 60 cycles it is something else.

Off frequency operation damages large power plants and can cause a large scale blackout with a long time to repair. So we do not let that happen. The solution is shutting off customers to manage the load which of course is something we do not want to either.

So CALISO will have a plan with sufficient fossil plants in standby with spinning reserve capacity to come to the rescue when the sun does not shine.

Racer Ex 

He's a erudite dude.

Just finished the Tim Egan Dust Bowl book prior to starting this one. He mentions the Buffalo Soldiers several times, rather ironic that when the settlers came in to farm and ranch lands the soldiers secured, most towns erected signs advising blacks not to be in town after sunset.

Racer Ex 

Just sent a 6 page fax to California's taxing authority. Long story. Was quite pleasantly surprised that once I started working with the legal division, it was friendly and professional working towards a resolution. Dealing with the call center people, not so much.

valygrl

93% eclipse here in Boulder. It was pretty cool.

Ebbetts Pass Century was great, beautiful scenery, and a bunch of riding with my sister and her friends. We did get some severe afternoon thunderstorms, that made lots of people, including me, resort to SAGing. I got 83 miles and 9K feet of climbing, though, just cut off the last 20 miles of freezing rain.

Heathpack 

Ha! I saw this on Strava but failed to realize you were in California.

OMG I am so very non-bad-ass right now for epic rides like that.

Racer Ex 

I would race her to the first Adopt A Highway sign then go home and nap.

Racer Ex 

So if you Google "Track SRM" my picture comes up on the images.

You may all bow down now.

Voodoo76

For those who do both what are your differences between Road TT and Pursuit setup? I've made a lot of progress on my TT position this year. Getting to the point where I can hit similar power numbers to my Road position. That took a lot more time than I expected.

Set up my little used (1 trip to Alkek) track bike with some bits left over from trial and error on the TT rig. Right now my seat position is spot on the same. My pad reach and drop are within 10mm. I haven't been on a Track on Aero bars since 1996.

Racer Ex 

With pursuits being over in a short amount of time relative to TT's (though they sure feel long), my power declination curve isn't an issue so I drop my elbow pads down a fair bit, 7cm.

Given I'm making turns every 5 seconds I widen the pads out a bit to gain some leverage and control; my TT rig my arms are together, on the pursuit bike they are 5cm wider. Hand position is essentially the same on both.

I keep my saddle position essentially the same as far as height and fore/aft relative to the bottom bracket; because I am a bit lower I will have a slight change to the angle.

Voodoo76

Appreciate the feedback. Wider makes a lot of sense. I'm not quite that narrow on the TT bike, hands touching and about a computer width between forearms. Will be interesting to play with drop changes.

Changing crank arms to match TT/Road (172.5) this weekend. Customer service kudos to P2Max. I'm using their Track meter and contacted them about recalibration if I changed from 165. They gave me a great deal on replacement Rotor arms.

Cleave

After a lot of thrashing about with positions on my TT bike and track bike, I think I am relatively close. I try to have the same position on both and as best as I can measure they are the same. I went the other way on crank length -- 165 mm on both. I was using 172.5 mm on the TT bike. For reference, my road bikes have 170 mm cranks.

Not by design but by the equipment on hand, my TT bike is narrower than my track bike on the aerobars.

Voodoo76

Cleave, I have considered trying 165's on the TT bike, reduced hip angle and all. Pretty easy to change out arms on both bikes (Hollowgram & Rotor).

Finished the setup. Seat identical, reach identical, 2cm more drop to pads (I've got 2cm in spacers & some stem angle to give if I want more) and 4cm more pad width. A quick spin on the trainer feels good. Looks like Harvey is going to put trying this out on hold for a bit though.