Friday, January 30, 2009

Sickness

Luca and I were chatting about who is going to win the World championships this year and I am thinking Stybar is my favorite followed by Boom and Nys.  This photo by Jeremy Powers confirms that, it's from his new journal entry on VN.  Stybar hired a driver on a durny to motor pace him during practice on the pavement sections of the World Championship course, now that is sick dedication.  Damn Jpow is good with the camera, the special edition Challenge Red 34 tire photo below is also courtesy of him.
Reading all the worlds info and seeing photos of everyone training on the course is making me jones to ride my cross bike again.  I can't believe that Katie can't get shimano to pay for her stuff?  That seems like a damn shame.  Her bike needs a BKW stylist to do some work on it though, it needs a different look, she is world class and she deserves a bike that looks it, not unlike NYS's Colnago.  

BB 30


Coolest thing about BB30 Bottom Bracket bikes, is BB30 Cranks.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Training?

Riding the snowy south end of the path today, wish it was all like this...just a bit of snow to keep things interesting.  It started out overcast but turned into a beautiful day out there!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Bluedale

Old road parts = new winter road bike.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Reset! Cyclocross Magazine Issue 5

Issue #5 in stock at The Pony Shop!  Come and get yours, lots of good reading info!  I rode then was laid up on the couch for 3 hours reading everything with my coffee.

Not too much happening right now around the shop, checking in new inventory, year end fiscals, nothing terribly exciting, except a few super nice road bikes going out and overhauls.  This is preseason time for the roadie in us.  Time to prep the bike, new parts, frame, start training, marking down on the calendar what races to do.  I just can't quite get into it, not like cross, although I may do an April road race.  I am looking forward to riding the road bike with my friends on a group ride and having coffee before and after.  I'm missing my winter training partner lately, but can't blame him since he's riding in Hawaii, and the max temp I saw outside this week was 34. 
This was Devon's frame, now my parts are on it.  I figured since we may do custom Cannondale's next year I should probably ride one for a bit to make sure.  It rides super nice, haven't been able to ride it off road, on trails, or with tubulars yet though.  
This is Fizik's new Antares saddle.  I really like it so far, it's similar to an Arione but a bit shorter and no seams in the center.  
This is my new water bottle.  I put one swiss miss cocoa packet in there, then fill with boiling water out of the kettle.  It is awesome, even today with sub 10 degree temps, the cocoa was hot after 2 hours.  A standard bottle doesn't last 20 minutes before freezing.  

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Photos

Howard at the Dorc
John, Mark W, Aram, me, and Bolling, in ashville NC
Ashville
Mosk, Alex, and Nick obviously up to no good already, on the way to the airport interbike circa 2004?
Rudrud, Mallan, and Mosk, miss that guy.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Cross Training

Can dog walking count as cross training?  The smoke coming off the water this am was awesome on the lakefront.  

Venue

Doc Roman and I met up with the park district who presides over our hallowed grounds.  Cross your fingers if we get through the politics and red tape we will have a killer venue for Pony Shop Cross #1.  Thanks have to go out to Robert S of the CCC he is a great public speaker and his new role helping out the new race directors of the cup is priceless.  

Monday, January 12, 2009

Bye bye

Devon's 08 Cannondale CX9 Frameset for sale.  56cm frame, 57.5 top tube, it rides more like a 58cm.  It's here or email me.  

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Giant Boom

This is the photo I had been waiting for.  This is Boom at the Netherlands European championships.  Since contract years for bicycles start January 1st,  Boom has been riding a Colnago until 2009, but Rabobank is now sponsored by Giant.  He is now riding a "rabobank",  which are his Colnagos with a new paint job.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Colnagos, but it's disappointing that LARGEST producer of carbon bikes in the world, can't come up with a bike that Boom will ride when they have had five months now to work on it. 

Friday, January 9, 2009

White

Finally all white comes back in the Arione!  

Monday, January 5, 2009

GO SRAM!


By James Huang, Technical editor

SRAM Red helped Astana win the 2008 Tour of California, Giro and Vuelta. (SRAM Corp.)

Chicago-based component maker SRAM can now be considered a newcomer to the road bike componentry market in name only, having taken its third consecutive win in the Cyclingnews.com Reader's Poll 'Best Product' category with its Red group even over Campagnolo's all-new Super Record über-package and the upcoming tech-heavy electronic Dura-Ace Di2 from Shimano.

Quick-shifting Zero Loss lever internals, innovative DoubleTap shift actuation, standard hybrid ceramic bearings and a heavy dose of carbon fiber and titanium are but a few of Red's attributes but its most defining characteristic is easily its reassuringly positive feel replete with tactile feedback. Add in the sub-2kg total weight and superb ergonomics and it should perhaps come as no surprise that SRAM continues to maintain its lead.

Campagnolo certainly lay down easily with its stunning Super Record group. The return of the heralded nameplate brought with it a jump to an 11-speed cassette, drastically revamped front and rear derailleurs, ceramic bearings and refined lever ergonomics - with possibly the most comfortable hoods in the business. Many will still debate the need for an additional cog out back but the group’s exceptionally high level of performance would be impressive regardless.

Shimano's long-awaited Dura-Ace Di2 electronic shifting group lands in third spot - and could possibly change the way we think about shifting forever. Shift performance both front and rear is significantly smoother than anything else we've experienced in our initial testing - especially under power - though rather lacking in feedback. A late introduction means we’ll still have to wait a few months before beginning to gauge public opinion of its real-world performance but the numbers clearly indicate that Shimano has at least seriously piqued our interest.

Results

1. SRAM Red gruppo - 3,676 votes, 31.97 percent; 2. Campagnolo Super Record 11-speed gruppo - 2,375 votes, 20.66 percent; 3. Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 electronic gruppo - 1,458 votes, 12.68 percent; 4. Shimano Dura-Ace 7900 gruppo - 1,221 votes, 10.62 percent; 5. Road Tubeless wheel system- 817 votes, 7.11 percent; 6. FSA/Cannondale/Zipp BB30 oversized bottom bracket standard - 500 votes, 4.35 percent; 7. Specialized S-Works Epic mountain bike - 387 votes, 3.37 percent; 8. Giant TCR Advanced SL road bike - 357 votes, 3.10 percent; 9. Truvativ HammerSchmidt drivetrain - 271 votes, 2.36 percent; 10. Trek Top Fuel mountain bike - 192 votes, 1.67 percent; 11. Fox/Shimano 15QR 15mm thru-axle system - 128 votes, 1.11 percent; 12. RockShox SID World Cup fork - 116 votes, 1.01 percent. Total votes: 11,498.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Encouraging Words

Zach from Half Acre wrote a great article that is featured in Gapers Block about The Pony Shop.  How cool is that!  Thanks Zach!  And thanks also to Naz for the photos in the article.  It's great for the shop and our team, but it's also great for Cyclocross in Chicago to get more people aware of the sport!