It’s a little late, but better late than never right?  I decided to write this review because I recently changed out all of my old Look to Shimano.  When I first started on a “road style” clip I used a Look Delta pedal that was on a bike that was given to me.  They were old, but they worked.  So I stuck with them.  When I upgraded my Felt F90 to the Felt F5C I put those pedals on it.  When I was given the Time Trial bike for Father’s Day by my awesome wife I put on a set of inexpensive Forte pedals from Performance Bike.  Then came the track bike, that bike got a new set of Look brand pedals that use the older Delta style cleat as well.  I noticed no difference at all between any of the pedals as far as performance  I fully agree with what First Dropped said in regards to the Forte pedals: “These are just like the Looks in every way except the price.”

When my wife started cycling a couple years ago she was persuaded to go to the “other side” and put Shimano pedals on her bike.  So, we had my three bikes with Look and her Felt Z35 with Shimano.  Next came the trainer bike.  A mid-80’s Raleigh Technium Pro that came with authentic vintage Shimano pedals.  When I got home with that bike I hopped on it with my Look Delta cleats and clipped right in!  The weekend after I got it I rode 35 miles with the Look Delta cleats on Shimano pedals.  There was no play or slop when pedaling.  The only thing I noticed was a little extra float when compared to my other pedals.

This is getting a bit long winded so I’ll get back on track.  I noticed a clicking sound when riding my F5C on the road.  It sounded to be coming from the pedals so I swapped pedals.  It was still clicking with the other pedals.  I could always recreated the clicking sounding by lifting hard on the up stroke and then quickly bringing my foot in to the down stroke.  This sound was driving me nuts so the next step was to get new cleats.  That proved impossible locally seeing as EVERYONE is using either Shimano or Keo.  I don’t want to have to rely on online retailers for something as simple as a cleat.  I also did not want to have to wait for a local shop to order them in.  My trainer bike and Amber’s bike already were set up for Shimano.  The logical choice at this point was to go Shimano so that all of our bikes were the same.

I purchased one set of 105 pedals for the F5C and one set of standard Shimano pedals for the Track bike.  I rode the F5C on the 100 mile Tour de Cure the day after I installed then and noticed no major difference between the pedals.  I rode the Track bike last weekend in the wind for the Saturday morning Pungo loop and again noticed no huge difference between a Look Delta and Shimano pedal.  Ironically, the clicking continued when I was riding the Felt FC with the new pedals and cleats.  After much tinkering I think I fixed it by tightening the crank bolt and bottom bracket.

The arguments I was given when I mentioned switching to Shimano were that the Shimano pedal is slightly wider than the Look Keo or Speedplay and that Shimano was harder to clip in to.   The greater width meant more care when cornering.  The difficulty clipping in was not much of a concern.  When I compared the Shimano pedals and the Delta style pedals they were about the same width.  I found that I did like the Shimano better in one aspect.  The front of the Shimano cleat has more height which I found made it easier for me to clip in.  Ultimately, I think that the Shimano vs. Look argument is like the one photographers have with Canon vs. Nikon.  Both have advantages and disadvantages, what is right, what is better comes down to a matter of opinion.

What is up with the goofballs riding their bikes on busy roads after dark without any sort of lights? That is just asking for trouble. A little blinking red light is cheap!

I came across an article this morning at Pilotonline.com that is not good news for the bike racing community.  The city is researching the lease of the Sportsplex to private developers and allowing development of shopping and other facilities to help boost the usability of the Sportsplex.  Although this would be great for the city it looks like it will mean the end of the criterium/multi-use trail that was opened up there last year.  On the other hand if the developers are a “cycling friendly” there could be the possibility of improving the course.

Upon further research I found an earlier article from July that
somehow slipped under the radar.  The article mentioned the interest
from Princess Anne Atheletic Development LLC to lease, manage, and
develop the facility.  There are three people mentioned in both
articles:
Chuck Thornton, Owns Hometown Heroes restaurant.
John Wack, Manages the Fredericksburg Field House.
Marcie Laumann, president of the Piranhas Soccer team.
Something
positive that I have picked up from the two articles is that Princess
Anne Athletic Development LLC seems to recognize the need for creating
sources of revenue other than just the Sportsplex itself.

Let’s hope
that if the City of Virginia Beach and PA Athletic do in fact go
through with this plan to develop the Sportsplex that they will listen
to the voices of our cycling community.  Incorporating some sort of
cycling facility in to the plans will add yet another way for them to
increase revenue for minimal investment.  Think about it…… several
hundred racers, their family, and spectators coming out to spend money
to race at the complex as well as money in the surrounding stores. 
Even better if the course was planned out properly, unlike the one now
that actually crosses the entrance to the facility, it could be used in
conjuction with other events at the complex.

Read more about it here:
Developer group seeks to manage Beach’s Sportsplex | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

Gilbert, aka Keirin Racer, was too lazy to race this past weekend. Maybe that was a good thing though, he took some great pictures! Check them out:

Picasa Web Albums – Gilbert Craven – Chesapeake Crit

He even caught the picture of me to the left with my “game face” on. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t a game face it was more me worrying about keeping my wheels on the ground!

Time Trials SUCK!  I went in to this one knowing that but was determined to do well anyways.  I did not succeed in doing well!  It started out with the never ending 6 mile stretch in to what felt like a steady head wind.  Then a turn in to more wind.  Then a turn in to more wind.  It did not feel like the wind ever let up.  Then about 35 minutes in to the ride I started to feel dizzy.  A couple more minutes then the nausea kicked in.  Another mile or two and I started getting the chills.  Now that was a weird feeling!  Riding along, I could feel the heat from the pavement and the warm air.  Yet I still had goose bumps and a chill.
I kept on riding and pushing as best I could, but I was not doing well at all.  It took everything I had just to make it back to the finish line.  Once off the bike it took a few minutes before I could actually stand with out holding on to something.
I can not remember ever having to push myself that hard for such a horrible result.  I think my time was right at or slightly under one hour.  That’s a horrible time especially for what seemed like such a hard effort.  Maybe time trials just arent “my thing”.

Last night was my first ride on the new saddle.  The Bontrager Inform RL.  Needless to say it was awesome!  No numbness, no sore spots under my sit bones.  I was able to make the Pungo Loop without having to constantly stand and shift in the saddle. This is the second Bontrager product to go on to my bike.  The first was the Bontrager Fit VR “Mini Drop” handle bars.  They were originally designed for women, but as short as I am they worked perfectly.  So that’s two times that Bontrager has been able to solve fit problems for me on the bike! 

We were riding this Saturday and the person that I was riding with asked if I had done any upgrades on my bike.  That got me to thinking….What has been done to my bike?

I started with the Felt F5C which was a pretty nice bike.  First came a set of Ksyrium SSC SL wheels.  The next upgrade was the Bontrager Fit VR bars.  Several saddles swaps.  Then, I moved up to Campagnolo Chorus from Shimano Ultegra/105.  Now the Bontrager Inform RL Saddle.  The only things on the bike that are original are the seat post, forks, and frame.  So, in the end I have ended up spending almost $3000 for my  ride in it’s current state.  Next time around I think I will start with the frame and build up from there to get what I want in the beginning!  Then again who would have thought that two years ago when I bought the bike I would still be riding it.

That is the headline I saw as a I scanned the headlines on the Google News page. Sad that that is the only publicity the Tour is getting. Even sadder though is the fact that there are still people in the Tour stupid enough to try and get away with it.
The Associated Press: Tour de France rider detained by police for doping

I came across this gallery of images on Boston.com from various stages in this year’s Tour De France. These are some of the coolest cycling photos I have seen in a while. Not necessarily for the portrayal of the sport and riders themselves, but they way they also capture the beauty of the area that the Tour goes through. The image in this post is one of my favorites….. I can only imagine what it must be like to be a part of the Tour!

Check them out:
2008 Tour de France – The Big Picture – Boston.com

What a weekend! Amber and I left Friday night to head up to my “ex-”in laws house for the weekend.  The plan was to spend some time with my son who is staying with them for the summer and get in a bike race. I say “ex-” in laws because they are ex, the marriage that made them my in laws is over, but despite that fact we are still as close as ever. They are the best people! 

Anyways…. the drive up was uneventful and we got there around 10:30 on Friday night. Anyone that has left the Hampton Roads area on a Friday afternoon knows uneventful isn’t something that happens very often. There was NO backup at the tunnel, no backup where the super-intelligent traffic engineers had five lanes narrow down to two, and the rest of the trip up 64 was smooth sailing!

6:00 AM Saturday morning came around all to fast after tossing, turning, and having an all around lousy night of sleep. I was dragging! I managed to drag my butt out the door and get three kids and gear packed in to the RAV4 by 7:15 AM.  We got up to Hagerstown around 8:00 which gave me plenty of time to warm up and get myself stressed out about the hills and turn 2. 

The start time finally came and we were off. We made the first left turn going in to the steepest of the two climbs. Made the slight veer off to the right at the top of the hill, then dropped in to the “nasty turn”.  There it was the first wreck of the day. It was on the first turn of the first lap of the first race! Wow…. a lot of firsts! The rider in front of me went in to the turn to fast and had his back wheel slide out.  I hopped to the side and some how made it around him.

This “nasty turn” was a very hard left turn coming off of a slight down hill. The turn could have been fast but there was a strange drop off going in to it.  It was one of the spots on the course that I was worried about. Throughout my warm up I was focused on coming up with the best route through without loosing momentum while giving myself the most room to move if other riders lost control.  Coming out of the turn in was a slight down hill with another left turn at the bottom.  Next was a small climb up then a wide 90 left turn that put you in to a headwind heading back to the start/finish line.

After seeing the wreck in the “nasty turn” in the first lap I was really focused and over stressed, but after several laps I managed to settle down.  I became very comfortable with the Cat 5 group I was riding with. They were very stable and seemed to be in control of their bikes.  That is something that doesn’t always happen in a Cat 5 race.  I also realized that I was really was really enjoying the course.

The scenery was great and the fact that it was more technical than a flat oval was awesome. I was surprised how fast the racers were too. It seemed that the average pace was faster than that of our races here in VACA land. The hill climbs and the more technical layout of the course broke up the monotony that I find comes from running the same oval and wide turns over and over again.

30 minutes and many laps later I crossed the finish line somewhere in the excess of 34 miles per hour to place 5th. I was supposed to have a first place finish but it seems that the Long “crew” and Matt that were officiating didn’t want to believe me when I told them that it didn’t matter what the camera and their lap counting sheets said it was me that came across the line first. That aside it was a great race.

Kudos goes to the promoters and everyone else that put on this race. They picked out an awesome course and did a great job with the all of the preparations. The course was well marked, police and course marshals did an AWESOME job keeping it clean and clear, and the officials crew was top notch.  I even saw one of the police officers come out in to the course to pick up a piece of trash! 

The only complaint was that Joe Jefferson guy… he sure does have a mouth on him…. he was doing nothing but talking trash about people and playing awful music. They need to ban him from those MABRA races. Maybe then we can get him down here for some of the VACA events!
This was one of my most favorite cycling events so far!

The rest of the day Saturday was spent wandering around Shepherdstown, WV and swimming with my family.  Shepherdstown is a small college town with an artsy flair.  There are a lot of unique shops scattered along the historic main street section.  One thing that always amazes me there is how friendly and welcoming everyone is.  The first place we hit was Lost Dog Coffee shop.  They have a killer selection of loose tea and whole bean coffee.  They also make a great cup of coffee.  Lost Dog also has a nice display of local artwork on display.  Now that we had our caffeine fix we continued up the street and came across a bike shop called Shepherdstown Pedal and Paddle.  The shop was run by a nice guy that even gave my son, Devon, a t-shirt and I didnt even buy anything!  He had a good selection of mountain bikes and some other really nice gear and took the time to just chat with us.  He seemed to be very knowledgeable about the bikes and the area’s trails and resources.  One thing that they do is Segway tours, next time I am up there and have more time I am going to have to try that.  Luckily for my wallet on this trip there wasn’t too much in the road bike department and the cylco-cross bike that he had was a little too big for me. 
Sunday morning we were pulled from our slumber by the scents of a wonderful breakfast.  Eggs, lots of fresh fruit, sausage gravy, and buckwheat pancakes. We all dug in only to have Amber start having an familiar itching feeling in her mouth. The same one she gets after ingesting walnuts, which she is highly allergic to. We scrambled to find her benadryl.  She took a dose and we hit the road.  The swelling and itching proceeded to get worse, and she even broke out in hives. Two more doses of benadryl and the symptoms finally started to subside. We now know she’s allergic to buckwheat in addition to pecans and walnuts.  Hopefully we dont find anything else!  The rest of the ride home was much like the ride up…. minimal traffic and a nice steady speed.
Now I am home, exhausted, and ready to crack in to a nice bottle of Petrus Golden Tripel Ale!

Here is a link to the consolidated results from the Hagerstown Criterium Challenge:

http://www.bikecvcc.com/avc/Events/2008/hagcrit_2008/2008%20Hagerstown%20Challenge%20Criterium%20Results.html

Following is a google map of the actual course.  When I was trying to see what and where the course was I had a hard time finding anything on it.  So here it is:

View Larger Map