Summer Night Before Cross

Combine this

With this

And you have a perfect recipe for enjoying the last warm days on the back porch.

If you think Buck Owens is just about HeeHaw, piss off.

Front Brake Cable Routing

Or how eveyone else is mucking it up!

In cyclocross, there are a bunch of compromises you make to get a bike working. It is, after all, a sport forged from road racing with just enough mountain biking thrown in, and a few proprietary goodies for good measure. One of the issues people struggle with is front brake cable routing. A lot of bikes are pretty smooshed for space where the front cable exits the bar tape and gets routed down to the front wheel. While there are plenty of ways that will effectively route a front brake cable, they all are wrong. Either they offend my delicate visual sensibilities, are a shoddy and quick way of dealing with a problem, or they have the potential for imminent death. I'll go through all of these "options", but first I'm going to show you the correct way and give you a little trick to make it even better. Do it this way or you are wrong. (Aren't you glad we got that point established? And by we I mean me.)

First, get yourself one of these from IRD.

You won't need the pinch bolt if your headset is tight, so toss it to save a few grams. Sure there are lighter ones out there, but none are better. Because it's machined from a pretty sizable hunk of aluminum and they leave a fair bit of it intact, it's pretty stiff. Meaning your brakes aren't mushy from your hanger flexing. It's a small step when it comes to eliminating brake shudder.(Another post entirely.) Your brakes may still be mushy because you don't know how to set them up, but not from your hanger flexing.

Route your cable under the stem. I don't care how the TreeFarm does it. By using the LongDrop from IRD you'll have plenty of room for the cable to make a nice smooth bend.

If you want to be extra cool like me, use an old V-brake noodle to guide the cable to the hanger. You can bend it into all sorts of configurations and the cable will slide through it better than plain housing. Plus it will help firm up the feel at the lever. If you don't have any old noodles laying around, go to your local shop. Any shop should have a bin full of the never used but always included 135degree bend ones. You can bend it yourself to any angle you want and if you need to shorten it, just pull the end the housing goes into off and cut the tube with a hacksaw.


Here's where I list all the wrong ways and make fun of them. If you route your cables this way and are offended, then good. You deserve to be. Any idjit that gets offended by teasing and brake cable routing posts on the web needs to pull up their big girl panties and have anther cup of shut the fuck up.

Resist the urge to be "Euro" and route the cable over the stem like this.

It's bad enough that the cable is on the right side, thereby giving the rider "motorcycle" or "Euro" style brake set up, but he's using Nokon housing to make a long loop of housing. Nokon, while a pain in the ass and expensive, does have the sole redeeming virtue of being able to be bent into small arc and still have the cables pass smoothly. This bike looks like he did it this way so he could show off the color matching that Nokons allow just a bit more than if it was tucked away under the handlebar.

The real reason you'll see this routing done on some Pro's bikes is because it's fast and easy to do if you are a mechanic that is replacing housing and cable fairly often. It allows for more latitude in cutting just the right amount of housing. If it's a little long, who cares?

Make certain your hanger is on straight. For the love of God, don't do this.

It makes you look like a fat man with a too short and crooked tie. Think Blimpy from Popeye. Again, if you run the LongDrop and noodle, then you won't have any issues with the stem getting in the way. Show some class and get it on there straight. If it's rotating itself, then your headset isn't adjusted properly.

This next one I just hate because of pure aesthetics.

It's ugly, I don't care how many fast guys do this. When you view the bike from the side, the cable is going dow n to the front brake at a goofy looking angle. Also, there are quite a few stems that don't have the clearance between the face plate and the stem body. If your fork suffers from shudder issues, then this will only make it worse.

If you aren't a fat, chain smoking Belgian professional mechanic, then don't even think about this next little "fix".

Drilling through your stem is stupid. Sure, there are posts on the forums with people claiming "no problems so far", but so what? I'm certain there were Yugo drivers that said the same thing at first. The Pro's bikes will have this sometimes done for special events like Paris-Roubaix. It's designed for a one time use. Not three seasons of Cat 3 mid-pack dominance and summer time adventure rides. Besides, it makes the bike look like it has a "Prince Albert". Turn your filters off on your Google Image search and you'll see what I mean.

I think I might have a problem

Tubular tires are a tricky thing. See, at first I just wanted one set to race cross on. One thing leads to another and before I know it, my garage looks like I abducted Sven Nys and held him for ransom. I don't know what or where the exact tipping point was, but I know I'm way past it now. Working in the bike industry doesn't help me any. You'd think that having access to loads of cool stuff at a discount would be a good thing, but it's not. Do you have any idea then number of times I've bought stuff because it's marginally within my budget? If I had to pay retail for everything, I couldn't afford for it to have gotten so out of hand. Never listen to me if the words, "You can't afford not to!" come out of my mouth.

Most of the wheels I've gotten have been procured over time and I actually do save up for things I want. I came to the belief a long time ago that I'd save until I got what I wanted instead of buying the almost as good but cheaper version. Every time I'd go the cheaper route, I wound either breaking it or wearing out sooner, or I'd find reasons why I needed to upgrade. So when I find a component I like, I tend to put it on all of my bikes. Chris King is a prime example. I rock their headsets on almost all of my rigs (it will be all very soon) and I have, count them, 6 pairs of the hubs. If it seems like a lot of King hubs, you're right, but in my defense I started buying them in 1996 and they all are still running. Some of them were originally different spacings and almost all of have been laced to many different rims. What can I say. I like the product and I like the company.

Here's the breakdown on the cross wheels and tires I have.



These are one of two King hubbed, Reflex rimmed, cross wheels I own. Both sets have double butted spokes and alloy nipples laced up three cross. These have the ceramic coating on the sidewalls and are 28 hole. Both sets are shod with Challenge 34's. They are awesome, stiff, strong wheels that can take a beating.



These babies are the other set. They are 32 hole and are the hard anodized version of the rim. Once again, super tough and shod with the excellent Challenge 34. These are the hoops that go on the rigs in Southern Oregon and at courses like Barton Park. I'll have these longer than any other wheels in the cross stable. As soon as I can justify the effort, I'm going to glue a set of Vittoria Pave 27's onto them and spend all summer riding shitty roads in bliss.

The next two sets of wheels are monuments to my own vanity and lust. I always have a mixture of pride and embarassment every time I ride these. Carbon hoops with stupid expensive, but oh so sweet riding Dugasts.



This wheelset is one of the two carbon hoops I have and a prime example that getting deals in the industry can make you poor. They originally were to be just for sunny day fast courses and road racing, but they've proven to be tough, stiff, and pretty light. I've ran them in muck and mire and they haven't ever complained. I was using them in crits last year and went OTB at 30, sending the bike cartwheeling. They were still true even if I wasn't. I even loaned them to a friend who used them in KC at Nationals and he came back wanting to buy them off me. Part of the allure to them is the Dugast Rynos that are on them. Those tires flat rock. They hook up better than any other I've ridden and the casing allows for stupid low pressures to be used. I'm 195lb and will run them down to 32psi without worries. The only downside is that they have a bit more rolling resistance than some others.



This set is a new one. I sell the Pro-Lites and so I am using them as a demo set. Pro-Lite is a company that makes wheels for Ritchey, Reynolds, and a bunch others. They had some good ideas floating around and decided they needed a house brand. The goofy looking hubs make for shorter spokes and wider flange spacing. All in all, while not the lightest, they are plenty stiff and ride nice. I've been doing the crit thing on them this year to test them out before I get stupid and glue these bad boys to them.



Remember what I said about the Rynos not rolling all that fast? Well these sholdn't have that "problem"! They remind me of the old Michelin Sprint, which was a tire I loved. If they turnout to be good tires, I figure the problem I'm going to have is not riding them at places like Barton or some of the Southern Oregon stuff. Especially if it's dry like it was last year.

Cable Routing

Cable routing. People lose their minds over were their cables should be attached to the frames and how to actually attach them. It's yet another minutiae of the sport that makes it what cross so intriguing. From obsessing over tire pressures and casing count or the best way to run a single ring to sourcing obscure brake pads, it's a typical type of obsession that is so prevalent in the sport. I'm as bad as anyone else. I'll spend who knows how many hours and dollars "fixing" something so very tiny and then waste myself and my equipment in an hour long slog fest through the worst gunk and grime possible. If that doesn't kill the bike, I throw it on the roof rack for a four and a half hour drive home in the driving NW rain. So you can see how it makes perfect sense to invest in unobtanium bits and maintenance heavy components(this is a sarcastic comment, in case your internal meter is off). Over the last few years I've come to add weight back to the bike to get reliability up, and perhaps more importantly, time spent wrenching down.

This leads me to cable routing. I've ran all the configurations there are and can honestly say they all work pretty well and all have things that suck enough to drive one crazy. I'll also come out and admit that I don't think there is any "magic bullet" when it comes to cable routing. You'll wind up running whatever works best for you and has the least annoying downsides. I'm just going to lay out what I think are the pros and cons of each. I'm only going to go over how they run in regards to the frame routing. I'll leave the front brake routing's for another day as that is a topic unto itself. So here we go.

Down Tube Routing
Pros:
1. It's the lightest as there is the bare amount of housing and only one cable stop per cable.
2. You don't need a pulley to run a road front derailleur. Road front derailleurs work better than mountain front derailleurs. It has to do with the leverage of the arm in relation to the cable pull of the shifters, plus the shape and profile of the cage. Bottom line, you can make a mountain front derailleur work OK, but not as well as a road front derailleur. Since no one makes a top pull road front derailleur, the only way to get one to work is either pave a pulley under the front derailleur on the seat tube which loops the cable back up to the derailleur, or run down tube routed cables. Never ind if you run a single ring. (Yet again, another posting and topic.)
3. No loop of housing at the rear derailleur pointing up at the sky for grit and grime to accumulate in a make shifting suck. Because the housing actually points down, it never fills up with slop and gets sticky. Or at least it takes a lot longer for it to happen.
4. It looks all classic and traditional. Not very MTBish.

Cons:
1. The cables are a pain when it comes time to grab your down tube. They kind of shift around and feel like they are going to pinch your fingers as you're shouldering your rig.
2. More grass and crap seems to hang from them when it gets really messy. No big deal really, but it can make cleaning the bike take longer.
3. It looks all classic and traditional. Not very MTBish.

Top Tube Routing
Pros:
1. It keeps the cables out of the way. Of your hands, of the slop coming off your front tire, everything.
2. It makes cleaning the bike a bit faster. This matters if you've a limited time to spend cleaning and wrenching before your next race. It really matters when you are in the pits and wrenching for someone else. I wonder if that's why you see so many PRO rigs running top tube routing.
3. It makes for a cleaner and smoother shoulder. I don't mean cleaner in that your gloves won't get dirty, but that the motion won't have any hanging up on cables.

Cons:
1. The afore mentioned front derailleur woes. No big deal if you run a single front ring, but a bit of a pain if you run a double. If you run a triple, stop reading this and go out and remove your helmet mirror, seat bag, and water bottle cages. What you do isn't racing. This is about race bikes. An aside on the pulley. I don't mind them so much, but they are another moving part that has to be dealt with and on certain frames, can limit tire clearance at the seat tube.
2. Unless you like changing your cables every week (Yeah, that's right. Every week.) or run a sealed system like Gore, your shifting will suck balls in a very short amount of time. It happens because of that last loop of housing at the rear derailleur points up at the sky allowing all kinds of crap to run down the cable and deposit itself in the housing. Even though the cables are up and out of the way, any grime and slime that gets on the bike will be funneled right down into that last bit of housing. That's why pros get new cables and housing every week.

I've come to run the rear brake and rear derailleur on the top tube and use sealed cables. I like running a road front derailleur so my front derailleur cable goes on the down tube. I had the guy who built my bike use a single split stop at the 6:00 position on the down tube which keeps it as tucked up to the frame as possible. I think this offers me the right balance of performance and limited maintenance. If I had more limited wrenching skills (they're way mad) and never wanted to change cable and housing, then I'd have the cable routed on the down tube. If I had huge ducketts, I'd run regular cables on the top tube with a pulley and have my personal mechanic deal with changing them out on a constant basis. As is, I think running a sealed system is the way to go. It costs more up front, but the shifting lasts the whole season. Just don't use that Nokon crap. I'd have to hit you.

Back From the Long Grey Void

We'll I'm back blogging again. Like a cold sore that won't go away, this blog is just about as reliable and annoying. This winter after cross, Blavco Suave was pretty fed up with the bike industry. After getting the shaft put to me by the "officials" at the Portland USGP, and then getting fired from my job in January, it was a little tough coming up with anything decent to say for a little while.

But then the snow was good and the time on government "unenjoyment" tit was nice and spending a bit more time with the little ones was fun and I was in a pretty good place. I still wasn't riding, so the no post habit continued to form and infest itself even deeper. It was creating a perfect cycle.

After the weather turned nice (Some of you are thinking this never happened. It has. Harden the Fuck Up!) I started riding and even training again. Only this time, solo was the theme of about 95% of Blanco's rides. Somewhat because I was still a little crusty with the bike industry, and just didn't want to field questions regarding my job status and "So what are yo going to do now?" type stuff.

But Blanco found out that he liked riding sans group better. Mostly because all the people who he usually rides with were all about the early season races and were already flying. It sucked going out for every ride and have it turn into the "Wednesday Worlds". I was still skiing part time and riding an even smaller part time and getting the wood put to Blanco in March wasn't my cup of tea.
Pros will tell you that they spend most of their training time alone because it allows them the best opportunity to maximize the type of ride they need to do that day. No responding to the groups seemingly random efforts and no drifting along safely ensconced in the pack when they should be busting their asses doing motor pacing. That's what the pros will tell you.

Blanco Suave can't tell you that. A training plan for me is that I'm planning to train, but plans change. What really makes training alone work best for me is that I don't allow myself to be slotted into my assigned pecking order of the pack during those "group rides". If I get thumped weekly by the same people, when it comes time to race, I already know where I'm gonna wind up, whether or not I actually deserve that placing. Trying to get your season to peak later than most people's is hard enough without spending the better part of your build up time getting discouraged.
The potential downside is that you can be deluding yourself in regards to your actual fitness. You can show up to the first race thinking your flying and get the old doors blown right off. But even if this happens, it's easier to justify your fitness and get back to getting better.

Every now and again this "ostrich head in the sand" style of training actually works for Blanco Suave. This last week Blanco turned the pedals in anger for the first time this year at the Thursday Night TT kickoff to the weekly crit series. I didn't exactly set any one's house 'a fire, but I turned out a pretty respectable result. Most importantly, all the other racers when I've ran into them this week, have commented on how strong the Blanco Suavester is riding. It seems like I caught them by surprise. Not that I'm actually all that strong right now, but they have nothing to gauge me against and automatically assume that if I haven't been getting thrashed on them since February, then I must not be riding too much. Bam! Instant insertion a few rungs further up the pecking order. Beware Blanco Suave, for he rides with the force of Solo!

So PRO it makes Blanco's teeth hurt

You know I have to have this. It's only forty dollars and I already have the Battery pack and extra Silca heads to complete the Pimpitizing. Fuck FMB's. Blanco Suave's going high tech redneck stylee!

Pay it Forward

Or back or whatever direction you want. Seriously, quit hanging on to all of your shit you think is a treasure. Believe me, no one is going to want to give you what you think your old 8sp Grip Shift is worth, even if you throw in the yellow shark tooth twist grips. It's just a clutter. Plus, you aren't ever going to get around to selling it on Ebay, anyway. If you ride your bike at all, and have a J.O.B., there is not nearly enough time in the day to clean up and post pictures of all your worn crap. Especially if you are already stealing time from "The Man" by blogging at work. Never mind all the time it takes to answer all the dumbass questions that go hand in hand with Ebay, like "Can you ship to Canada via Priority Mail, but COD, 'cause my PayPal is a little jacked up right now and I'm in a pissing match with UPS?"

I just gave away one of my old cross frames that had been gathering dust in the garage rafters. I had been meaning to repaint it and then probably spend way too much time and money building up a bike that I don't have room for. I also gave away some old XTR discs to a good friend this year. I had been meaning to clean them up and put them on Ebay, but that never happened and the new ones were already paid for. Now he's set up to go mountain biking with me, and I have more space in my garage and some serious favor leverage for when it comes time to do some home repairs.

What Blanco Suave Rides (slowly)

Here's the bikes I likes.
This is the new baby. I wanted Mike to make me a steel cross frame and fork based around the Paul Components Racer brake. I like how low pro they are. This bike will see limited use as the pit bike during cross season, but mostly it will be for gravel road rides and commuting. It rides a bit more softly than my race rig, which is what what I wanted. I already love this bike. It is going to get way too much saddle time.





This is the race rig. Ti, light and sexy. It's stiff and tough and with the single ring, all about business. It tops out at just over 18lbs., which for my fat ass, is plenty light. I don't know about the carbon hoops, but they look cool. The Dugasts that are on there are the bees knees, though. I have a set of Kings laced Mavic ceramic Reflexes that I can run should the need arise, like at PIR this December.

Stops and Starts

I feel like I’m playing a giant real life game of red light/green light. I’ve been getting all geeked up for cross season and now that it’s here, one thing or another is keeping me from getting in the racing groove. Family commitments, work commitments, house and car work, etc., etc. I really like this time of year when I can just worry about the races on the weekends. Every weekend. I do well with racing consistently.

Blanco Suave isn’t one of the Oscar Freire types that just shows up at the big dance and lays waste.

No I’m more of the Boonen type that need to race into fitness.

I respond better to old adage that nothing gets you more prepared for racing than racing.

I’ve been able to postpone the impending feeling of doom by telling myself that I’m wanting to peak later in the year. But it’s coming up on November and I only have one cross race under my belt. Last I checked, I’m not going to Belgium for all of December and January, so the late part of the season is coming on fast for me and there hasn’t been much of an early or middle part of the season.

I’m hoping that the weather will turn into the proper NW shit storm that it usually does. Not that I love racing in the grime, but I tend to deal with the circumstances better than others. I love it when I overhear racers complaining about the cold and wet. It means that much fewer people to worry about. I’m also hoping that all of the racers that have been tearing it up week after week up until now are starting to fade in motivation. I can’t be the only asshole who realizes that you can only ignore your family, friends, and ever-shrinking wallet for so long. That’s the other nice thing about the wet and nasty. Repairs to your equipment tend to get more expensive and it takes longer to keep everything running. Further ruining motivation and making getting the always needed kitchen pass harder.

So basically, Blanco Suave’s plan for cross domination depends on the failure of every one else. Notice I haven’t once mentioned my own fitness or skills. No, I tend to prefer to bask in the schadenfreude of cross racing.

Why torment myself with my own failings when Blanco Suave can delight in the suffering of others? That must be the reason that the races bring out so many “Spectators” (hecklers).

Tired of Tire Reviews? Too bad!

Here's the follow up to the last post about clinchers. I promise it won't be so long winded. (Not true. I had my fingers crossed!) If you want to know what I like (long walks on the beach, curling up with a good book, fine dining, blah blah blah) or where I race (in front of you, unless I happen to be lapping you), then you'll need to look back at the last entry. The only time Blanco Suave repeats himself is when I decide someone is worthy of two roundouse kicks to the head, Tonkin-ator style.

This here ree-view is about the sublime world of tubulars and all the glue huffing goodness that goes with them. I don't know if the fumes make you long for Belgian ale and frites, or the other way around, but the tires really are the bees knees. I know lots of racers who try all sorts of way around running them , from the voodoo tubeless conversions, to Stans's, to waiting with baited breath that Hutchinson and Shimano's joint tubeless venture will be the answer. Some are even foolheaded enough to keep on running the Tufo red headed bastard child tubular clincher abomination. To this, Blanco Suave says, please continue and thank you. It's a fact that even a bad tubular is faster in most conditions than a good clincher, and as a user of great tubulars, I encourage everyone else to continue running clinchers. The only reason to run clinchers is if you are on a budget. It's way cheaper to throw another tube in and get back up and running for $4 and 10 minutes than it is to spend another fumigated night out in the garage peeling and regluing another $100 tire. Or if you only have one bike and one set of wheels, then clinchers make perfect sense. You can commute during the week and race on the weeknd. But as we all know, if you are racing cross, budgets are something only to be looked at after you've spent the rent money on another set of obscure French silk sew ups; because the casing had a special strip under the tread that your other 6 pair didn't, and that would make them that much more perfect for one 45 minute race you do in those conditions, and if you are going to spend all that money on one set, then don't you need another set for your pit bike as well? See where this leads?

Any-whooo. here's the shizzy. Feel free to disagree with me, but then as you can see by the slick commercialism of this site, I obviously get paid a ton of moulah to spout off, so I must be right. Oh yeah, feel free to pay me tons of moulah to spout off.


Tufo Prestige
It's the red ones, but the yellow are just as bad. The two redeeming factors they have are that they are available in something bigger than a 30 and are reported to be pretty good in the thorny and rocky areas of the country. I think the two things they have going for them is they are they are cheap on the interweb and, well, they are cheap on the interweb. They have almost no side knobs to speak of, and the transition knobs point stright out to completely open areas on the casing. Actually the other thing they have going is the base tape. Since Tufo doesn't sew a tube in the casing, but vulcanizes it, the base tape is nice and flat and makes gluing all the way to the edges a breeze. Good luck fixing a flattened Tufo. There is no tube to patch back up . (Not that you would, but there are businesses that charge way too little to do this for you!) Most Tufo riders wind up dumping about a gallon of the Tufo sealant into the tires, hoping to get them ridable again. The upside to this is they become heavier than your commutron wheels and you do get some kick ass training in. I say save the gooped Tufos for race day! (Again, better for me. Follow along.)


Vittoria Cross Evo XG
Cool shiny silver euro goodness offset by not the most supple casing and a base tape that likes to seperate from the casing. These are pretty decent if you are on a budget and live in a pretty rocky and rough area. They also clear mud pretty well and have okay side knobs. Beware that the casing is a little tough (again, good for the rocks, lead butt) and that the 32 is tiny where as the 34 is nice and big. My first set didn't have the straightest casing and wouldn't roll through my buddy's chainstays. I would recommend these to someone who wants to try out tubulars, but is scared of what to do if they flat. (But buy them on sale.)


Challenge Grifos
Here's the first real step towards buying uber expensive tubbies. The first time you buy a set, they will be your special race tires, because he casing feels so much more supple than anything you've tried so far. You'll also pick up an unhealthy obsession over the accuracy of the gauge on your pump, wished it read in BAR in easily readable fine increments, and you'll buy a stand alone pressure gauge. It's really the first big leap into Euro snobbery and single ring coversions using sandwich gaurds and not some chain keeper thingy. The first generation used the same tread glued onto all the diffeent sized casings and was originally made in 30c only. In fact it was called the Largo when the factory was Clement and not Challenge. The Grifo was the pinner 26c tire for all the old school hard men. Any-hoo, when they applied the tread to the larger sizes it was a bit under sized in relation to the casing. It worked okay in 32, but a 34 had it's knobs seemingly just on the top of the tire. You's still get pretty good traction if you ran the pressures low enough. The new ones have an extra row of knobs on the side and they rock. It's a tire that makes you feel a gear faster on bumpy and power sucking grass.


Dugast Rhyno
All the euro pros run these. They'll make you buy a digital pressure gauge and talk a buddy into "pitting" for you. You'll pit bikes every other lap if it's at all moist, let alone muddy. Just so you can show off to the crowd and to give the official something to pay attentin to. The new tread simply rocks. It's the first tread that matches (or comes closer than any tread ever has) the quality and ability of the casing to provide traction.
I haven't tried the classic Typhoon yet beacause my wife found and confiscated the Blanco Suave's Visa card. She said something about feeding babies and then I zoned out thinking about Duvel beer and frites. (MMMMMM,frites.) Damnit Woman! Doesn't she know that I need a set of Duggies for faster, dryer courses and somehow my two set of Challenges won't quite cut if for mid pack domination??
Any-hoo, these are the big dogs on the block when it comes to performance. Sven Nys's personal mechanic is the owner of the company. He bought it from a French hobbitt who learned his craft from God. Be prepared to be amazed at the lovely suppleness of the casing. If you don't know who Sven Nys is, then you'll never appreciate a Dugast tire and you should just go ahead and run Kenda Knarly's on your flat bar Redline. Remember to pick a color that matches your baggy shorts and the bottle cage you refuse to take off, you troglodyte!

P.S. Your blinky tail light fell off at the last set of barriers when you decided to carry your bike in one hand like you were going to throw a javelin.


Next up on the docket for blogification: Gluing and how your wrong and I'm right.

Cross Tires

Or as I like to refer to it, the reason I have no money and a garage full of old tires I don't use, but won't give away.

So I’m putting my thoughts about the tires I’ve used over the years in one place. It seems to get some comparative info, you really need to search through the threads to get what you want. I’ll start off with the clinchers and work my way up to the tubbies. Now, I haven’t run some of these in a few years, so I’ll try to give the best recollection I have of them.

First a little breakdown on the type of terrain I ride in and then the type of rider I am. I ride my cross bike a lot of places. During the bulk of the year, it gets used as a commuter and gravel road explorer. Later on it gets turned into the full on cross racer rig and goes round and round in the slop and mud every weekend. Both uses have two very different needs.

Our dirt and gravel roads come in two types. One is the sweet and smooth decomposed granite that only gets sketchy late in the year as it gets looser and looser. In August, think of about a half an inch of kitty litter over a cement floor. The rest of the year it’s pretty nice, fast and smooth. The other type of gravel is the typical shit they put down on logging roads. Sharp, sometimes loose, and always sketchy and power sucking if it’s been freshly graded. Sometimes you find yourself suffering in the washboard tracks the cars leave because it faster and has better traction.

The local cross races are on pretty hard pack dirt and gravel that bakes up hard, unless the rains come and then it turns to sticky gumbo. One course has a fair amount of grass and real mud made form actual dirt so clearing shit from the lugs isn’t too big of a deal, but the grass gets really greasy. The clay gumbo is a real power suck and a wider tire works best.

The Portland races are your typical cross type courses that have grass and mud and some dirt and pavement mixed in. If it’s not too wet, the organic material mixed in the mud can clog up a bike pretty good. If it gets really wet, then your tires will usually clear the crap, but say goodbye to your brake pads and chain. You’ll have a fine grit of sand scum up your crack that hurts like hell to scrub off and takes two washings to get out of your chamois.

I’m the type of rider that prefers to remain fairly upright in my corners and I tend to sit and power a slower cadence instead of standing. I’ll stand, but at 6’4” and 195lbs., I start getting in the red pretty quick if I have to support my body off the bike. I save the standing for resting my junk and accelerating. I think my height makes me want to keep the bike upright and not lean into the corners too much. I’ve got a taller center of gravity and if I get a 15 degree lean into a corner, it’s farther away form the tire’s contact patch than someone 5’8”.

So as far as tires go, I tend to prefer something with a round and predictable profile and while I like a wide tire, I really want it to be tall and cushy. It needs to roll fast and corner confidently. I also like it to have a fairly supple casing. I hate it when you ride a tire that feels like it’s made from a garden hose.

Clinchers:
Geax Blade- 700x32c
I really wanted to like this tire. I thought the fairly open tread would shed mud and roll quickly, which to be fair, it did. However, it’s smaller than listed so I had to run the pressures pretty high to combat pinch flats and the tall knobs give a squirrelly feel when transitioning in to the corners. They also tended to break free a bit unpredictably. They did pretty well on the loose granite and they rolled fast on the pavement, so they were a good tire for late summer exploration rides. I think they would have been better if the tread was lower and the casing was bigger.


Panaracer CrossBlaster- 700x31c
A new tire made in the old school cross philosophy of narrow and light. They are so light it makes it hard to put anything else on the bike if you have a scale handy. They were impossible to clog with mud, probably due to their low and widely spaced knobs. They were a nice round profile and had a supple casing, but due to their small size, you had to run the pressures way up there to keep from pinching. Not a very durable tire, but did I mention they were light? Probably the perfect clincher tire for running in the super deep mud where you are looking for the tire to cut to the hard stuff and you’ll probably be carrying your bike a lot. Otherwise it’s too specific to make a good cross tire.


Michelin Mud- 700x30c
There is no way these are a lowly 30c. They look like a 34c and have the nice round and tall profile I covet. The original green treaded tire that everyone still uses as a comparison when referring to mud performance. They’d pack up a little if there was a lot of grass and other organic material in the goop, but otherwise a fine tire. Michelin used a weird inner casing that made booting a cut next to impossible so you had to watch it in the rocks, but you could generally run a lower pressure than any other clincher. They didn’t roll all that fast on the hardpack and pavement, but then that’s what the Sprints were for.


Michelin Sprint- 700x30c
See above for comments on size and shape. These things were the best. They were the semi-slick version of the Mud. They rolled faster and could find way too much traction for the amount of tread or lack thereof. Most guys ran this on the rear with a Mud up front, however it was not unheard of to run Sprints front and rear. Some guys would even do this in the mud so there was no chance of gumming up the tread. This was the first tire that clued me in that casing size, suppleness and tire pressure have as much, if not more, to do with traction as the knobs do. One of my all time favorites.


Michelin Mud2- 700x30c
The replacement for the original. Slightly different tread and no longer green. Same casing and same Michelin adherence to a completely wacked sizing scale. Still works great, but some would say the green tread cleared mud better at the expense of wear.


Michelin Jet- 700cx30c
The replacement for the Sprint. Michelin did away with the diamond tread and changed it to some weird diagonal file tread that had a tendency to give a funny sound when run at speed on pavement. Not as predictable as the Sprint, but it saw way more spec on bikes, probably due it coming in black instead of the green silica compound. Good tire, but not great. By the way, you can still get the Sprint tread from Michelin, but it only comes on their commuter tires with black tread, heavy casing, and fewer TPI. Don’t fall for it. The Jet is a much better tire.


WTB CrossWolf- 700x32c
WTB’s cross racing clincher. It rolls fast and feels nice and grippy in the corners, even when leaned. I just doesn’t clear mud from its transition and corner knobs. If it was a little bigger and had a little more open tread design this would be a great tire. I bet this thing rocks in the Bay area and Santa Cruz races. It’s not a bad commuter or exploration tire, but not as good as the one coming up next.


WTB InterWolf- 700x38c
Buried way in the WTB lineup, almost hidden in their commuter division is the InterWolf. It measures out closer to an actual 35c and its profile is round and tall. The casing simply rocks. You can run lower pressures than you think, and it rolls like a high-end road tire. The tread lasts forever and it’s reasonably light. It’s replaced the Sprint as my favorite clincher for everything except for mud. It’s another tire that works way better than you’d think


Tufo Diamond TC- 700x30c
Tufo’s weird attempt at the clincher market. Imagine a tubular with hard rubber wings just outside the base tape. Those wings snapped into the clincher beads and were held in place by the air pressure of the expanding casing pushing them out. They were an absolute bitch to install when new and tended to pop off when the got older. They had no way of patching them, so you had to rely on this liquid latex sealant. Not very inspiring when out in the boonies. This one was the diamond tread and the cheap but tough casing. They actually were pretty good commuters. With about twice as much sealant as recommended you didn’t have to worry about thorns and you could get away with lower pressure than a regular clincher. They still rode about like a garden hose.


Tufo Elite LPS TC- 700-30c
The sucker tire for all of the guys who wanted tubulars, but were afraid of glue and spending money on a dedicated wheel set. I think these things were a false economy and wound up costing you more. You’d get addicted to the ability to run low pressure and when you’d finally had it with the shitty tread that only worked when not leaned over at all and beads that would pop off the rim under slightly hard cornering efforts you’d finally pony up for some tubulars because you couldn’t stomach the thought of going back to clinchers. Except maybe the Michelins. But by that tine you’d drawn your elitist line in the sand and crossed the Tiburon in to tubbie town. I’d go back to racing clinchers before I ever went back to these. The last I heard, Tufo stopped making them. Go figure.


To be continued with the follow up on tubulars.

Grrrouchy

Man, I’m grouch to day like I have a badger bit down on my ass. Too much time already off the bike with too much time off the bike looming ahead of me. The first day or two on the meds after the crash were bearable. I pretty much slept a weekend away. Sure, peeling my underwear off of my ass cheek wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for my first Father’s Day, but at least I got in some winks without burning valuable spouse capital.

Now it’s starting to get into the meat of the shitty recovery time. At best I’ll be back in the saddle by this weekend. I’ll still be feeling like ground chuck and have the mobility of a beached whale, but fuck, at least I’ll be out there. Hopefully I’ll be unsnagging scabs from Lycra instead of mopping up wound ooze from the bib shorts. Fun fucking fun.

It’s amazing how a little change in the schedule can make me a grump. I should just change my name to Oscar and move into a garbage can. I don’t know if idiots can sense when I’m in these moods, or if I notice the idiocy more, but I have dealt with more fucking morons lately than I care to think about.

Blah, blah blah. Poor fucking me. As soon as I can bend down enough to put on a sock and shoe, I’m outta here on a ride.

Sangria De Suave

That’s the goo that’s stuck to the sheets in the guest bedroom. The sheets were previously stuck to the Suave himself, thanks to a high-speed get off during the Thursday nighters. Old Blanco decided to launch up the Dooley with two to go and midstream was slammed to the ground by a skip in the drive train. I don’t know what happened. The chain is intact, the freehub engages normally, and the bike was shifting fine. All I know is one second I’m feeling all Boonen-tastic and the next second I’m trying to cheese grater every square inch of my left side with ¼” chip seal. It makes old Blanco a bit gun shy about putting the power down. Not that the power will be getting put down anytime soon with the large amount of scabbage on the posterior that needs to heal first. But still, I need to have some confidence in the Suave Sprint. I’m not exactly going to out climb the group. If I’m going to do well at all, then I’m going to have to trust putting the watts down in big legged bursts and not have to worry about scraping myself along the pavement. The crappy thing is that it happened at high speed and under power. No way of replicating that except for being at high speed and under power. I’d feel a little safer if it had been something like left had slow speed turns or in the 34/25 while doing a leisurely 60 RPM’s. Nope, I get to go out and try and make it happen again at race speed on hard pavement. It makes me wish cross could be here sooner. Sure, the equipment is largely the same, but you answer me this, would you rather wreck in your front yard or in your driveway? Yeah, I thought so.

Is there a 12 step program for this?

I have a problem. I can’t quit obsessing about tubular tires and wheels. Especially cyclocross tires. It all started with a set of Tufo tubular clinchers. I bought a set at the apex of having colored tires on your cross bike. But because I had only clincher wheels, they tubular clincher set up seemed like the perfect idea. They only have two issues. One is you get addicted to how well a low pressure tire rolls across bumpy slow terrain and two is they suck everywhere else. Seriously, no traction on anything and they have a tendency to pop off the bead if you run them hard through corners. Especially if you run them low enough to get any kind of traction. They also have a habit of leaking air at very in opportune moments. Their prescribed sealant helps, but not very reliably. They also run a little on the small side. Since I don’t live in 1976 when cross tires were 26c and pumped up to 85psi, 32c is as small as I want to go and the Tufos only reach 30c.

The easy solution would to just go back to clinchers. At the time there were a plethora of decent tires for clincher rims headed up by the infamous Michelin Mud with the green tread. It’s really an excellent tire that is as good as you’ll find to this day. Flats would only cost a buck to fix and take about 5 minutes. I also wouldn’t have to worry about another set of wheels. I could continue to switch out the tires every year from the road bike. Hell I could even get a second set of wheels so I wouldn’t have to have the road bike without hoops for cross season. Shit, I might even have a spare set of wheels and be PRO.

No, I had tasted the sweet nectar of tubbies and wanted the fully leaded, non-diet, sugar filled goodness of the truly Belgian way. Since I was new to the tubular game, I decided I would get one set as the race wheels that were only brought out at the big time Portland races. Ones that featured lots of grass and no rocks or thorns. No way I was going to waste these babies on goat heads and the Southern Oregon jungle cross courses. That lasted about a week. Pretty soon I was running them in all the Portland races due to the importance and stature of the series. They deserved to have tubulars used. I mean, if I’m going to drive 5 hours to compete in a 45 minute race, then shouldn’t I bring out the big guns? This lasted pretty much one season.

I’d love to say the reason I held out so long for a second of set of tubulars was due to my already established principals regarding the stature of the local series versus the Crusade Cup series, but it was really about finances. I blew all of my dough on travel and there was no way I could justify buying another set of wheels and tires at the time. Utilities have to be paid and Christmas presents have to be bought. Besides, waiting until after the holidays gave me all year to obsess over it. I had time to shop and scour for deals. If I was patient I could get a second set pretty cheap.

Yeah right. Part of the problem with running sweet gear is that anything but matching stuff is unacceptable. Okay, it’s my problem not the problem, but whatever. Anyhoo, I did find a second set of blingy tubbies, although in my defense, I did wait around and score a set of Kings laced to ceramic 28 hole Reflexes. Cool, now I have a set of bomber deep sections for the Southern Oregon series and a set of lighter box sections for the P-town races that will still work in the glop. I was even thinking ahead. I bought a pair of Vittorias in a 34c for the local races due to their flat protection and a set of 32c Challenges for the Crusade courses.

Two things ruining the plan, as we now know it. First is Vittorias kind of suck. I mean, they are better than clinchers, but shit, they aren’t as nice as the Challenges when it comes to plush. They also run a bit wobbly and bumpy. Second is that I’m only racing the local races due to family constraints. So I have sweet set of wheels just sitting in the garage, begging to be used. It’s hard to save the goodies for the big races when you know you aren’t going to get to go. It’s like saving yourself for marriage when you know the reality is you are going to wind up a cat lady spinster. Good thing the season was mercifully short, once again giving me lots of off-season to plot and scheme.

Long story getting longer, but oh well. I pony up for a second set off Challenge tires, this time in 34c, ‘cause that’s how I roll. Well, around this time I luck into a free set of carbon tubular wheels. That’s right, free. Well the only thing going on those bad boys is Mr. Andre Dugast himself in all the new Rhino glory. I’m certain this time I really will save this set for only the big races in Portland. I wonder how long it will be before I manage to convince myself I need a second set, this time with a dry conditions tire.

Let me get this straight. I now have three sets of tubulars, two with Chris King Hubs and Mavic rims running Challenge sew ups, and a set of carbon tubbies mounted up with Dugasts. I guess I need a pit bike for all of these wheels. Time to call Mikey D. See, I told you I have a problem.

The Ringer

Let old Blanco Suave tell you a little cross racing tale. See, the Suave is what you might call a cross aficionado. I’ve been into it for way too long, and paid my dues. I’ve raced the mountain bike short-track on the drop bars and persevered until the local yokel heathens saw the cross light and started realizing what fun a real cross course is. Not just a jungle cross-not that jungle cross isn’t fun- but a real, honest to goodness, actually can pass someone, shorter than three mile, sometimes even bits of pavement, cross course.

Of course I’ll take the credit for that, not all the publications, web sites and industry types touting the cross scene as the next big thing. No, it was Blanco Suave out there pimping to the unwashed masses.(And by masses, I mean the same dummies that show up every year to finish in roughly the same order, regardless of the course or equipment in cross.)

So anywhoo, the Suavesters done all the requisite cross pilgrimages and immersed himself in the cross culture. I’ve started in the traditional cross story by building a frankenbike on the cheap and worked all the way up to multiple bikes and carbon tubulars. I am unabashedly a cross whore and Blanco Suave doesn’t give a shit what you think. I’’ll buy and acquire any type or quality of equipment and race on it and be damned happy it helped me to 7th overall in the men’s B field. I like it, so I have it. Suck on it, Patsy.

Anywhoowhoo, with all of the blinging gear that exists in cross now, it’s easy even for me, Blanco Suave, to get caught up in the arms race and want the newest, latest, greatest, shit. Couple that with an industry job, and the parts aren’t so unobtainium. Having Portland’s cross scene, access to cost of goods way below wholesale, and a magazine and web site fetish only adds fuel to the Blanco fire. Yeah, that’s right. I’m sporting the shit. Spare me your old school rant on how back in the day, blah blah blah whatever. I’ll ride what I want to ride. If you have questions, please refer to the last sentence in the previous paragraph.

Moving on with the story for real this time. I forget sometimes that not everybody rolls the Bentley gear come cross season and that sometimes, they even sport the odd ATB. WTF? didn’t everybody get the memo two years ago about how cross is the new whatever, and how your only cool if you have enough gear at the races to make Sven Nijs blush, even though your only competing for 12th out of 10 in the old, slow, fat, and employable division?

Long story short. (For real, I promise!) Blanco Suave hasn’t been riding nearly as much as he did last year or no way close enough to justify his gear. Mrs. Suave gives the Kitchen Pass to travel to Redding to race some December cross. Picture this, Blanco and Ale-Prop roll to the start/finish area of the race with multiple bikes and not only multiple wheels, but glued on and sewn-up multiple wheels that most of the local crew on their ATB’s have never heard of. Of course there are a couple of local hotshots that recognize the gear from an article in VeloNews and decide such foreign(probably Belgian) gear signals the showing of a (and I’m quoting the actual verbiage used) “Ringer”!

Well, Blanco Suave’s been called lots of thing, but ringer ain’t one of them. I figure the best plan of action is to walk the walk before I have to talk the talk. So I walk the course sans bike, ride it way slow and early on, and then warm up on the trainer until race time so as to maximize the psyche-out. I mark the guy in the only other skinsuit and then the gun goes off and it’s on like Donkey Kong. A few bumbles and stumbles and Blanco needs Ale-Prop to reel in the big fish and haul his ass back into the fold. Luckily, Ale-Prop is all about riding hard and blowing himself up in his first year of A’s, and I bridge back. I trade a few blows with Skinsuit and Niner Noel and finally finish in second. It’s an awesome course, and the racing is tight. Alessandro Cristacchi hooned on the locals until his 45 minute legs were riding into the last bits of his 65 minute race. The kids gonna wind up wailing as soon as he gets the whole cross suffering/masochism/suppression of survival instincts/ self doubt down. Even Blanco Suave made old Niner Noel barf and was able to look back on a pretty good day of racing. Redding is just lucky that the whole Blanco Suave training program basically consists of not drinking at lunch plus treachery and deceit. Wait ‘till next year when the fitness catches back up with the smack talk. I’m gonna go all Sven Nijs on their asses. Let’s see what Mr. Skinsuit has to say, then.

Oh Yeah, I don’t feel like posting any pictues right now. Deal with it.

Word on the street is that El Ocho is in secret training for another shot at the Creampuff. He got his knickers in a twist when he heard the course was going to be a single loop. He might want to consider keistering a shiv and a change of underwear.

Rumour has it that Sasquattle has heard of El Ocho's intentions and is warm for Ocho's from.

Even if El Ocho completes his Tonkin man-crush beard before the Puff, Sasquatch will know it's El Ocho and not Tonkin when the race clock goes into the double digits and Ocho's all weak and wobbly kneed. It'll all be over but the crying.


Poor El Ocho will probably wind up looking like this.


Sasquatches forest prison bitch.