T H E F R E E W H E E L T H E F R E E W H E E L Club Cycliste Beaconsfield SPINNING AT THE YMCA SPINNING AT THE YMCA HOMEMADE RECOVERY DRINK HOMEMADE RECOVERY DRINK Benefits of the Rip Van Winkle training method Benefits of the Rip Van Winkle training method MARCH 2011 MARCH 2011 “DEAR PENNY” “DEAR PENNY” REFINE YOUR GROUP RIDING TECHNIQUES REFINE YOUR GROUP RIDING TECHNIQUES Details........ Page 26... Dear Penny... Our own cycling version of dear Abbey shares their infinite wisdom and answers any and all questions cycling related and otherwise Page 22... Page 22... The benefits of the Rip Van Winkle training The benefits of the Rip Van Winkle training method by Member method by Member- -at at- -Large Large Mark “I’m back after 20 years” Schachter Mark “I’m back after 20 years” Schachter Page 14.... Page 14.... Bicycle Wheels Bicycle Wheels Dave Inglis shares his passion in this third Dave Inglis shares his passion in this third installment of his “ Everything you wanted to installment of his “ Everything you wanted to know about your bike but were too busy riding know about your bike but were too busy riding it” technical series. it” technical series. Dave also tells us why he is a huge fan of Trek Dave also tells us why he is a huge fan of Trek bikes.... bikes....NOT NOT !!! Actually Dave owns a Gianella !!! Actually Dave owns a Gianella and rumors circulating around the club that he and rumors circulating around the club that he showers with his bike have been showers with his bike have been confirmed.....just saying !!! confirmed.....just saying !!! Page 19... Page 19... Page 19... Quebec Championship Quebec Championship Quebec Championship Senior CAT 3 winner Senior CAT 3 winner Senior CAT 3 winner James Piccoli shares James Piccoli shares James Piccoli shares his personal secret for his personal secret for his personal secret for quick training recovery quick training recovery quick training recovery without spending tons without spending tons without spending tons of money on of money on of money on commercial commercial commercial supplements supplements supplements 2 3 EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE COMMITTEE Avo Kayabalian President, Merchandising Linda Houle Vice-President, Technical Clinics Glenn Kyte Treasurer,Group Leader Program Germain Bérubé Secretary Gene Piccoli Communications Director, Freewheel Editor Sue Anne Hickey Social Director Dennis Martin Tour Director Committee Committee Catherine Bubnich Membership Denys Mantha Time-trials Mark Schachter Member at Large Steve Abramson Past President Muhammad Choonara Webmaster Table of Contents President’s Message....................................3 Editor’s Message.........................................5 Social Scene and Clinics...............................7 Why I love my Trek.....................................10 Spinning at the YMCA.................................12 Bicycle Wheels .........................................13 James’s Recovery Potion............................18 Your Posture’s the Question.......................19 Rip Van Winkle Training Method ................21 Dear Penny................................................25 Photos of UCI GRAND PRIX de Montreal.....27 Refine your Group Riding techniques.........33 The Freewheel is the official CCB newsletter. Its mandate is to communicate issues, and share stories and experiences that are of specific interest to the CCB membership. It is the forum by which to reach other members, to recount personal impressions of a memorable ride, and to express opinions on the Club and its activities to the Executive and the membership at large. All members of the CCB are encouraged to submit articles, editorials, photos, and any other newsworthy items to the editor by way of the link posted on the CCB website. The Freewheel is one among many of the CCB's proud and longstanding traditions. - The Editor Le mot du président Avo Kayabalian Je profite de cette première édition du Freewheel édition 2011 pour souhaiter la bienvenue à tous nos membres, anciens et nouveaux, du CCB. Je tiens également à remercier les membres du comité exécutif pour leur engagement et pour toute l’aide qu’ils apportent afin que la saison 2011 soit une réussite. Je félicite les bénévoles de l'année dernière pour leur dévouement et leur travail exemplaire. J’encourage vivement tous les membres à s'impliquer au moins une fois cette année afin d'aider le comité exécutif à réaliser tous ses objectifs. Comité exécutif 2011 Avo Kayabalian (Président) Linda Houle (Vice-présidente), Germain Bérubé (Secrétaire), Rick Waldman (Trésorier), Dennis Martin (Directeur de la programmation), Sue Anne Hickey (Directrice activités sociales), Gene Piccoli (Éditeur du Freewheel et Directeur des Communications), Steve Abramson (Président sortant), Glenn Kyte (Organisateur des responsables de groupe), Catherine Bubnich (Responsable des inscriptions), Muhammad Choonara (Webmestre), Denys Mantha (Contre la montre), Mark Schachter (Membre à titre personnel), Ray Deslauriers (Cliniques techniques). Je suis membre de CCB depuis 2004. Je constate que, année après année, les membres améliorent leur condition physique, achètent des vélos plus performants, augmentent leur niveau de performance. Cette année, je veux mettre l'accent sur la sécurité routière de nos membres. En 2009, au Québec, le bilan fait état de 2102 cyclistes victimes d'accidents dont 16 sont décédées et 114 blessés grièvement. Je demande à tous les membres de redoubler de prudence et de vigilance, particulièrement en peloton, et de respecter les règles de sécurité routière afin de minimiser les risques d'accident. Je suis certain que, comme moi, chacun souhaite pédaler le plus longtemps possible. Merci à l’avance & Bonne saison 2011. AVO 4 Linda Houle Vice President Germain Berube Secretary Rick Waldman Treasurer Dennis Martin Tour Director Sue Anne Hickey Social Director Gene Piccoli Communications Director & Freewheel Editor Steve Abramson Former President Glenn Kyte Group Leader Catherine Bubnich Registration Muhammad Choonara Webmaster Denys Mantha Time Trials Mark Schachter Member at Large Ray Deslauriers Technical Clinics I would like to take this opportunity in this, the first edition of the 2011 Freewheel, to welcome all of our old and new members of the CCB. I would also like to thank the members of the Executive Committee for their work and commitment to their respective responsibilities, ensuring another club success for the 2011 season. I would also wish to congratulate last year’s volunteers for their dedication and exemplary work, and I urge all members to get involved at least once this year in assisting the Executive Committee in fulfilling its goals. I have been a CCB member since 2004, and with each passing year, I have found that members have significantly improved their physical conditioning and acquired higher-end bikes in order to enhance their performance in the peleton. This year, I would like to focus on road safety within our membership. In reviewing the 2009 statistics in Quebec, there were 2102 reported cycling accidents, in which 16 people died and 114 were seriously injured. I invite all members to exercise caution and vigilance, and to respect traffic regulations in order to minimize the risk of accidents in the peleton. I am quite certain that, like myself, everyone wishes to stay healthy and ride as long as possible. Thank you in advance and have a great and safe 2011 season. 5 One of the main issues and concerns addressed by the Executive this winter was the issue of safety. As well, in past editions of the Freewheel, safety has been discussed several times. In one Editor’s message, I highlighted the concept of “collective adrenaline “, whereby a group of cyclists takes on a unique persona which differs measurably from that of its individual participants. That the speed, average or maximum, is often significantly higher than the agreed-upon speed in the parking lot is perhaps part of the game as some would argue. Unlike the old adage of a chain only being as strong as its weakest link, experience in the peloton suggests that the speed of the pack will most often match the pace of its fastest rider at any given moment in time. On Day 2 of last year’s 401 Bike Challenge, a grueling 255k stage into a relentless headwind, one of our riders broke down in tears from sheer mental frustration and physical exhaustion. Yet, she willingly rode the lead group the entire day, refusing to back down or drop back to the second peloton when the first group put on a blistering pace in the last few hours. Backing down is hardly a common occurrence in the peloton. When adrenaline kicks in, logic and pacing instincts will often take a back seat to exhilaration. Collective adrenaline often dictates that we will hang in no matter what, rather than face the dread of being dropped. It is getting much faster out there. Obvious to most, our beloved sport is exploding and changing rapidly, as surely as its participants. In the early years we had a different type of die-hard cyclist, equipped with 10 speed 28 pound Peugeots, optional leather helmets, and tight gym shorts, along with the accompanying espresso and occasional cigarette. Cycling then was more Zen, somewhat goofy in a nostalgic way, and certainly not about heart-rate zones, electrolytes, watts, or lactate thresholds. In addition to the cycling purists, the sport today is attracting a new breed of participant. It is attracting fitness refugees who are migrating away from other high-impact sporting activities on the recommendations of osteopaths, physiotherapists, and personal trainers. In a post Lance Armstrong reality, affluent baby boomers, armed with disposable cash, will not hesitate to acquire the lightest, stiffest, most advanced racing machines on the market. Access to the best coaches and personal trainers will ensure a smoother integration into the cardiovascular demands of cycling, but not necessarily the riding instincts that only years in the saddle can provide. In the past, cyclists were more likely to take a break in the off season. Today, more cyclists spend their winters in spinning classes, Computrainers, or personal coaching sessions. All-inclusives to Mexico have given way to winter training sessions in Arizona or Virginia to kick start a new season. If you haven’t trained hard in the off-season, you will soon find yourself at the back of the peloton in 2011. All of this is to say simply that increases in performance and speed are rising noticeably, whether it is technological advances in equipment and/or significant advances in training and nutrition protocols. Nature’s joke is that these 6 quantum leaps in performance are coming from an aging participant base, ironically at a time when the bones become a year older, and reflexes and reaction times a year slower. If not for the vehicles and rock hard asphalt, ours would be truly the world’s perfect sport. Unfortunately, life is rarely that simple. Collective adrenaline, as it pertains to safety however, is a far more serious topic. Weeknight rides in August often see sustained speeds in the high-40s on the Lakeshore homestretch, with brief sprints and attacks into the 50s. Few have issues with sprints that come at the end of a great ride, or sprints that happen on quiet, safe stretches of country road in Vermont . Most of our stronger members are competent and skilled cyclists who can handle aggressive and spirited rides without incident, the vast majority of the time. It is the collective sense of absolute invincibility in the peloton that ought to be cause for concern on occasion. Few members may be aware that last year there was a horrific accident along Lakeshore Blvd. involving a first year CCB member along with her friend, a young mother of two small children. The two cyclists were headed west at a very leisurely pace. A car heading east was stopped at Morgan Rd, and suddenly turned left directly into the path of the two cyclists. Although both wore helmets, the young mother crashed face first into the car and suffered a severely lacerated facial artery. According to the ambulance technicians that showed up minutes later, the young woman would have likely bled to death if not for the quick medical intervention of two firefighters who luckily happened to be at the scene. Contrast the odds if you had twelve middle-aged cyclists hammering to the limit of their capabilities riding double formation on a very narrow road, a misplaced vertical crack in the asphalt, an oncoming bus, and a twitchy squirrel or angry dog. Sprints are a club tradition few of us would ever want to lose. There is something truly magical about holding zone 5 in an anaerobic trance. The sound of the gears, the constant blur in one’s peripheral vision, everyone clinging in quiet desperation so as to not get dropped unceremoniously. 99.9% of the time, this should never be a problem. The concern for all of us ought to be the other .1%, because in the heightened state of collective adrenaline, some do not anticipate the potential for disaster. I’m certain our young mother never did on her quiet ride either.. Food for thought. Ride hard, ride smart, ride safe in 2011. Gene “Nature’s joke is that these quantum “Nature’s joke is that these quantum leaps in performance are coming leaps in performance are coming from an aging participant base, from an aging participant base, ironically at a time when the bones ironically at a time when the bones become a year older, and reflexes become a year older, and reflexes and reaction times a year slower” and reaction times a year slower” 7 CCB 2011 Social Scene and Clinics CCB 2011 Social Scene and Clinics Make sure to join us for the first big bash... The New Member Party at The Black Lion Pub, Friday May 20 th at 7:30. This party is especially for new members, but “old” members are welcome as well. No dinner will be served, just snacks. If you’re a new member and worried about coming out alone, we’ll have a fun ice breaker game with prizes. by Sue-Anne Hickey Tuesday and Thursday nights Snacks and Social after the rides: Back by popular demand...The tailgate parties in the Beaconsfield High School parking lot draw quite a crowd. One each month, May 17 th , June 16 th and July 19 th End of Summer Social at Café Maurizio’s, August 25 th . The club pays for the food. We have a fabulous summer of social events lined up! Mark these dates on your calendar. 8 New this year ... Get togethers after the weeknight rides at Café Maurizio Every 2 nd Tuesday and 4 th Thursday of the month, from May to August. Relax, eat and socialize on the terrasse after the rides. Café Maurizio is offering the first drink free for CCB members. Presidents Picnic: We’ve found a fabulous venue for the picnic this year: A beautiful Farm just outside Vankleek Hill. Burgers and salads, a full, catered feast. The club will subsidize part of the meal so it will only cost you 5$. Sunday July 10th after the ride. Registration and payment through paypal on the website. You must reserve in advance. Lunch after the 34 km Team Time Trial: Form your two man team for this fun event and join us after for lunch on the grounds of Fritz Farm. Members not participating in the race are also welcome. 10$, reserve on the site. Labor day Monday September 5 th , rain or shine. Year End Party: The biggest party of the year. Celebrate another fabulous summer on the bike. Wine and dine and dance all night at the Royal St Lawrence Yacht Club. Saturday October 22 nd Clinics: Free for CCB Members Bike Bazar- Sell... Your old bike or equipment Find... All kinds of amazing deals on used bikes, bike parts and equipment Date: Friday, April 8th When: 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM (6:00 PM for vendors) Where: Kirkland Arena, 16950 boul. Hymus, Kirkland Qc. H9H 5J5 If you have items to sell contact annet@royallepage.ca. The sale is open to all. 9 Bike Emergency Repair Clinic Ever been stuck in the middle of nowhere... flat tire loose headset rubbing break pads chain derailment......what is one to do??? The CCB and the mechanics from Paul Cycle and Sport will be conducting a bike emergency repair clinic to help all of us who are less mechanically inclined. Date: Wed. May 4 th When: 6:00 PM Where: Paul Cycle and Sport, 44 Ste. Anne, Pointe Claire, H9S 4P8 Reservation required. Please bring a chair, bike wheel, and tools you usually bring on a ride. Bike Fit Clinic Proper bike fit can improve your pedaling efficiency, aerodynamics and actually make you faster. Basic bike fitting principles to prevent pain and injury. Learn... How to level, center and adjust the seat How to choose handlebar size and check reach and height, and more... Date : TBD Where: Beaconsfield Library Annexe, 303 Beaconsfield Blvd. , Beaconsfield , QC H9W 4A7 Please note, this is a demonstration, do not bring your bike. The clinic will be given in English only Nutrition for Cyclists Clinic Learn about... The benefits of a healthy diet for strength and endurance The importance of protein Choosing the right carbohydrates Hydration and sports drinks Clinic by: Sue-Anne Hickey Naturotherapist Date: Monday, May 16th When: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM Where: Beaconsfield Library Annexe, 303 Beaconsfield Blvd. , Beaconsfield , QC H9W 4A7 Limited seating, reserve your place on the website. Please note: this clinic will be given in English only 10 Why I love my Trek 11 With all due respect to my good friends, Nick Van Haeften , Dave Inglis , Jimmy Bokos, and many others who have publicly, and privately, extolled the virtues of their weapons of choice I have taken the liberty of starting a debate on who makes the best bikes on the planet. A visit to every bike manufacturer’s website confirms that everyone in the industry lays claim to a proprietary process used in their frame construction, be it a secret unidirectional lay-up or a use of a special carbon fiber compression protocol. Some like to believe that things are much more complex than they really are; my opinion has always been that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. This means that before getting into a drawn out debate of which manufacturer delivers the best technology, one must consider the company itself. Trek is the second largest bicycle manufacturer in the world, number two only to Giant of Dajia, Taiwan. However, Trek has manufactured more carbon frames than anyone on the planet. Trek employs 180 people in its engineering group alone, committed to delivering the best cutting edge design and technology. Included in this R&D group are 37 dedicated carbon fiber engineers, 11 of which are Composite Materials Engineering specialists. Also in this engineering group are 9 bona fide rocket scientists, for the simple reason that the aerospace industry is the hotbed of carbon innovation. In addition to this prodigious and unrivaled Research and Development team, Trek is the first bicycle manufacturer to use real Defense Grade High-Modulus carbon fiber. Defense-grade High-Modulus carbon fiber offers significantly increased stiffness. It is used as a supplement to the OCLV 55 Carbon material found in a majority of Trek’s frames. True Defense Grade High-Modulus carbon fiber cannot be sold in Asia or other parts of the world. So if your bike’s frame manufacturer builds it in China, Taiwan, Tunisia, or anywhere outside of the NATO alliance, it isn’t Defense Grade High-Modulus carbon fiber, period. Some may believe that US export-restricted carbon fiber to protect US national security is an elaborate marketing ploy. In an April 2009 US Department of Justice report on Export Enforcement Prosecutions, http://www.complianceweek.com/s/ documents/cw09/ crosby2.pdf it was reported than on March 20, 2009, that three Chinese nationals pleaded guilty to exporting restricted carbon fiber material to China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Unfortunately last year, Trek followed the lead of most manufacturers and began outsourcing the fabrication of its 2, 3, 4, and 5 series to Asia. However, it’s famed Tour de France winning 6 series Madones are still hand built in Wisconsin this using High-Modulus carbon fiber. Trek continues to pioneer cutting edge technology at Waterloo, Wisconsin, in the highest-tech carbon bicycle facility in the world. Of course, all this technology, the widest BB shell in the industry, or the fact that Trek made a record 7 Tour de France podiums , doesn’t make you any faster on a CCB weeknight sprint. But that is the reason I love my Trek. So let’s hear from the rest of you. Tell us what you love about your Cervelo, Felt, Specialized , or Giant. Let’s start a dialogue on the Freewheel and our CCB blog, if you don’t submit an opinion, it can’t be printed. See you in the peleton Gene 12 SPINNING AT THE “Y” SPINNING AT THE “Y” 13 Bicycle Wheels Bicycle Wheels Bicycle Wheels By Dave Inglis By Dave Inglis Whenever you get a wheel flat, it’s only flat on the bottom, right? The next time you have a flat or decide to wash off the thousands of kilometers of road grime off your wheels, take a spare moment to actually look at your wheel... you will be amazingly surprised to see it’s more than a round thingy with spokes and your worn, bald tire. This is my third article on “everything you should know about your bike but are always too busy riding it, to ask” on the topic of wheels. My first and second articles on frames and gearing can be found in the Spring 2009 and 2010 issues, respectively. Most of the following information has been lifted (unselfishly) from Wikipedia (known in Quebec as ‘OuiOuipedia’), the guy who stands at the corner of Boul. Perrot and 3 rd Ave. in Terrasse-Vaudreuil and waves at the floods CCBers who cycle past every Sunday morning and Barry Harper at Cycles Gianella in Pierrefonds. “Regarding the over-all performance of a bike, the wheels are the most important. An excellent pair can cost $1200 and contrary to belief, they are not more delicate than lower priced wheels. In fact, the higher the cost, the more durable the wheel is and it will perform better, is lighter, and will last longer,” said Barry. So with that tid-bit about the two big rolling thingies on our bikes, let’s start here: The Hub, Axel Rose, Guns ‘n Roses The hub is the centre part of the wheel consisting of an axle, bearings and the hub shell with two machined metal flanges where spokes are attached. An axle secures the hub to frame. All road bikes have (or should) axles that attach via a quick release lever, a BBQ-like skewer that pass through a hollow axle designed to allow for installation and removal of the wheel without any tools. Spaghetti skewers can be used also providing they are uncooked or al dente at most. Spaghetti? WTF? Just checking dear CCB reader to see if you are paying attention, a-hem. Bearings allow the hub shell (and the rest of the wheel parts) to rotate freely about the axle. Most bicycle hubs use steel or ceramic ball bearings. Older designs used "cup and cone," whereas some modern wheels utilize pre-assembled "cartridge" bearings. A "cup and cone" hub contains loose balls that contact an adjustable 'cone' that is screwed onto the axle and a 'race' that is pressed permanently into the hub shell. Both surfaces are smooth to allow the bearings to roll with little friction. This type of hub can be easily disassembled for lubrication, but it must be adjusted correctly; incorrect adjustment can lead to premature wear or failure. In a "cartridge bearing" hub, the bearings are contained in a cartridge that is shaped like a hollow cylinder where the inner surface rotates with respect to the outer surface by the use of ball bearings. The manufacturing tolerances, as well as seal quality, can be significantly superior to loose ball bearings. The cartridge is pressed into the hub shell and the axle rests against the inner race of the cartridge. The cartridge bearing itself is generally not serviceable or adjustable; instead the entire cartridge bearing is replaced in case of wear or failure. It is not necessary to throw away the entire bike if the bearings become worn, 14 just replace the cartridge... duh! As a kid I remember dismantling hubs only to discover those little ball bearings have a tendency to make a fast escape, falling out and rolling away. A flashlight and patience usually located them on the floor or sometimes, stuck to my shirt. In subsequent bikes as a teenager, I remember dissecting my bikes and discovering the bearings were assembled in a cage-like frame and loosing any became a non-issue. I liked to dry them out then push them along a smooth floor like hockey pucks that my cat enjoyed fetching. The cat grew bored, I never did. Gears are for geezers Gears are attached to the hub either by a freehub, freewheel or duct tape. A freehub is a mechanism built into the hub that allows the rider to coast. Spines on the freehub body allow a single sprocket or, more commonly, a cassette containing several sprockets to be slid on. A lock ring then holds the cog(s) in place. My first "serious" roadbike I bought 12 years ago has this feature as well as my new 2 year old "really really serious" (really!) roadbike. A freewheel unlike the freehub is not part of the hub and is contained in a separate freewheel body and also allows the rider to coast. The hub has threads that allow the freewheel body to be screwed on and the body has threads and/or splines for fitting sprockets or in the case of most single speed freewheels, an integral sprocket. This style of hub was used before the freehub became practical. My first "ten-speed racing bike" had this. As a teen, I bought it at Canadian Tire and my cycling clothes consisted of jean shorts and t-shirt. Man was I cool, or what! That said, who named the CCB newsletter “The Freewheel” after this old-fashioned mechanism? Would not “The Freehub” be more avant-garde? But I digress. Duct tape will always secure gears to your hub. Any leftover pieces of tape, you can apply to your legs and rip away leg hairs for that "baby- smooth" leg skin and be the envy of all Tour de France cyclists. There are other types of gear attachments to hubs like the track sprocket. There is no mechanism that allows the rider to coast, common on fixed gear Velodrome-type bikes. Flip-flop hubs where both sides of the hub are threaded, allow the wheel to be removed and reversed in order to change which gear is used. The internal geared hub, the mechanism to provide multiple gear ratios, is contained inside the shell of the hub. Many bicycles with three-speed internally geared hubs were built in the last century like my first "serious" bike I had as a 10-year old, my ‘Fastback 100.’ With its chopper-like design, man that was one mean chick-magnet machine! An iRIM was not invented by RIM, Research In Motion The rim is a metal extrusion that is butted into itself to form a hoop, like a hula-hoop. A hula- hoop however, is not a good choice for a bicycle rim. You can however, spend your hard-earned money on a $10,000 bike, dismantle the expensive wheels (take out the hub, spokes, etc.), throw away the frame and keep the rims to be used as hula-hoops. Actually, the CCB does have a hula-hoop swinger’s division. Ask around at any club ‘dep stop.’ Rims can be made out of wood (historically, anyway) though today's are metallic or aluminum alloy, although until the 1980s most bicycle rims - with the exception of those used on racing bicycles - were made of a steel structure of carbon fiber composite. Some wheels use both an aerodynamic carbon hoop bonded to an aluminum rim on which to mount conventional bicycle tires. 15 Rims also are designed with a smooth parallel braking surface used with rim brakes. If your wheels do not have this feature, please join me for a ride up Wilmington Weekend. Your uncontrollable descent will eliminate you from the gene pool, appropriately Clincher rims, clinch it...1, 2, 3.... If any of you CCBers do not know who I am, I am the guy who stands in the CCB parking lot every Sunday morning and clinches my buttock muscles in anticipation of the day's ride. Fifty butt clinches later, I am ready to rock! I may have that “deer caught in headlights look” on my face, but I am actually enjoying myself. Most bicycle rims are "clincher" rims for use with clincher tires. If your rims are "flat bed" as opposed to "hook bed" type, please do not ride with hook bed clinchers on flat bed rims as the tires may explode off your rims. Remember that Canadian Tire 10-speed racing bike I had as a teenager? I remember buying 120 psi tires and mounting them on my flat bed rims; they blew off, in the kitchen, as I inflated them. Bang is a very loud word. Hook-bed tires mount on hook rims, okay! A word about rim tape: the inner part of the rim where the inner tube fits has spoke holes, they must be covered by rim tape. Usually made of rubber, cloth, or tough plastic, the tape protects the inner tube from the spoke holes. Please, use cloth tape or some equivalent that sticks to the rim. Years ago on my first "serious" roadbike, every 157 kms (or thereabout) I would get a mysterious rear flat... no "bang" of "fizzzz..." sound, just a flat. I discovered the cheap plastic rim tape shifted to expose the sharp edge of the spoke hole that gently eroded a small puncture flat. I replaced the rim tape with sticky cloth stuff, never a flat again! Spokes, spooks and why I admire small nipples Spokes under tension, connect the rim to the hub and at the end of each spoke is a specialized spoke tension-adjusting nut, called a nipple that is also used to “true” the wheel. As a teenager, I once tried to true my wheel that developed a slight wobble warp. I bough a truing key, tried it, and made the wheel worse. That said, dear CCB reader, always have a professional bike mechanic true your wheel, trust me! “Spoke tension a big issue with wheel performance,” said Barry. “Ninety percent of spoke breakage occurs when a spoke lacks tension, not when they have too much. Spokes at a wheel’s 12 o’clock position, carry the maximum tension with no compression; spokes at the 6 o’clock position carry the minimum tension with the maximum compression. If a spoke is loose, the head will continually move and wear away in the hub’s spoke hole due to these constant and changing forces and the head will break.” Spokes may be double- or single-butted. Double-butted spokes have a reduced thickness over the center section (referred to as 15 gauge, 1.8mm in thickness), thicker at the ends (14 gauge, 2mm thick) and are lighter, more elastic, aerodynamic and are all around the best spoke for durability than spokes of uniform thickness. Single- butted spokes are thicker near the rim and then all the way through the threads at the rim. Spokes are usually circular in cross- section, but high-performance wheels may use spokes of flat or oval cross-section, also known as “bladed,” to reduce aerodynamic drag. These spokes are more prone to torsional twist but racers who favour weight durability over cost prefer them. The standard for most bicycle wheels are round spokes, double-butted and made of stainless steel. Titanium spokes are softer and more expensive than steel, and aluminum spokes are less durable. Balsa wood spokes look interesting and can be mended fast with airplane glue, every few meters the cyclist rides. Want to get dropped by never leaving the CCB parking lot? These spokes are for you. Count your spokes while waiting for others at the top of a hill 16 Conventional metallic bicycle wheels for single rider bikes commonly have 28, 32 or 36 spokes. For my Campagnolo ‘Khamsin’ G3 wheels, my front has 3 sets of 8 spoke groups (total 24) and my back, 3 sets of 9 (total 27); my old roadbike with the classic-look wheels (round, double-butted spokes), I have 32. With fewer spokes on my new bike compared to my old one, one would think with less spokes, the price would be less, no? They in fact, cost many times more. Wheels with fewer spokes have an aerodynamic advantage, as the aerodynamic drag from the spokes is reduced. “The more spokes the wheel has, the more tumbling air—turbulence—is created in the wheel. By reducing the number of spokes, less drag and turbulence is achieved. While riding the flats, turbulence, not a wheel’s weight, slows it down,” added Barry. Humm, fascinating... so like bladed spokes or less spokes, do diminish turbulence within a wheel and thus increase speed. Oh, so that’s why Lance Armstrong has won seven Tours! Conventional wheels with spokes distributed evenly across the circumference of the rim are considered more durable and forgiving to poor maintenance. The more general trend in wheel design suggests technological advancement in rim materials may result in further reduction in the number of spokes per wheel. The tensioned spoke bicycle wheel can also carry around 700 times its own weight before it will give out to gravity. I have not checked that tid-bit fact at the source www.the wheelconsulting.com/the-wheel, but so far I have been able to stack 10 beer cases of empty 24’s (full, once) on my wheel without problem. Lace up your skates and wheels Lacing refers to the pattern by which the spokes connect the hub to the rim. While most manufacturers use the same lacing pattern on both left and right sides of a wheel, it is becoming increasingly common to find specialty wheels with different lacing patterns on each side. Most spokes are tangential and crossed, radial spokes do not cross. Crossed spokes may cross over and under each other 1, 2, 3 or 4 times. The more times a spoke crosses, the more they can pull on one another and the stronger the wheel becomes. The feel and sound of plucking the spokes on my old and new wheels is different due to the different tension; my concerto spoke music is in progress, stay tuned, no pun intended. With that fact, I looked (read: really looked) at my front and rear wheels, Campagnolo ‘Khamsin’ G3, like the wheel pictured here—“G3” meaning grouped in three. My front spokes are radial—they lead out from the hub at right angles to the rim. My rear spokes are different. On the right (gear cassette side), I have 18 tangential spokes and each crosses another spoke three times! On the left (the opposite side of my right, FYI), I have only nine radial spokes. How cool is that? Why? Read on, dude. My front wheel with radial spokes, stiff and strong, does not have to bear any torsional load and very little weight. Wheels that are not required to transfer any significant amount of torque from the hub to the rim are often laced radially. Here, the spokes leave the hub at perpendicular to the axle and go straight to the rim, without crossing any other spokes. This lacing pattern cannot transfer torque as efficiently as tangential lacing. My rear wheel has tangential spokes because radial spokes cannot transmit torque—a twist force— rather a push/pull force. So get this: as the chain applies a rotating force to the hub when I pedal, the spokes twist relative to the wheel. After hammering up the famous Rigaud Bourget climb (and barf at top), I realize it’s those crossed spokes that got me up the hill because they have a better force transmission than radial spokes, that is why tangential spokes are on the drive side. Thus, I fly... up! Road/racing bicycle wheels A number of wheel manufacturers are now producing wheels with roughly half the spokes of the highest performance traditional wheel from the 1980s, with approximately the same rotational inertia and less total weight. These improvements have been made possible primarily through improved aluminum alloys for the rims. Most clincher carbon fiber wheel sets, such as those made by Zipp and Mavic, still use aluminum parts at the clinching part of the rim. An increased number of all-carbon rims, such as Campagnolo Hyperon Ultra Clincher, Viva v5 wheels, Bontrager's Carbon Clincher wheels, DT Swiss RRC1250, Corima Winium... with so many wheel types, what to buy? 17 “Wheel cost is a weight versus precision issue and for the best wheels for reliability and quality, I recommend Campagnalo and Shimano wheels,” assured Barry. Dish... my favourite? Soup! Soup is one of my favourite dishes. The other day at a restaurant, I ordered the ‘soupe du jour’ and asked the waiter what it was. He went to ask the chef and upon returning he said, “It’s the soup of the day.” For those CCBers who like to draft behind me—you know who you are—always to lazy to “pull,” eh... you dirty cheap hub suckers... man, when I get my hands around your boney neck, I’m gonna... oh, sorry, back to the topic of wheel dish. For those CCBers who draft behind me or any other rider, you may/should have noticed my spokes are “off centered.” Why? Read on.... The hub flanges of modern tension- spoked bicycle wheels are always spaced wider than where the spokes attach to the rim. When viewed in cross section, the spokes and hub form a triangle, a structure that is stiff both vertically and laterally. If the spokes were covered, they would form two cones or "dishes". The wider the hub flanges, the deeper the dishes, and the stiffer the wheel can be laterally at the expense of vertical stiffness; the more vertical the spokes, the shallower the dish and the less stiff the wheel will be laterally. The dishes on each side of a wheel are not always equal. The cassette on a rear wheel takes up width on the hub, and so the flanges may not be located symmetrically about the center plane of the hub or the bike. Since the rim must be centered, but the hub flanges are not, there is a difference in dish between the two sides. Such an asymmetrical wheel is called a "dished" wheel. The side of the wheel with less dish has shorter and higher tensioned spokes than side with more dish. “Spokes on the drive side are 20% tighter also,” Barry added as he chased me out of the store because he had bikes to build. Dave has been a CCB member for over 20 years and in that time, he figures he has pedaled his bike(s) around the world the equivalent of two times, 80,000 kms; trips to the nearby beer store? 85,000 kms. Burp. 18 James’ Secret Potion and the Importance of Recovery By James Piccoli If I had to make a formula for fitness, it would look something like this: Fitness = (Intensity x Length) + Recovery Everyone knows that riding your bike more makes you faster. However, the common misconception is that you get faster while you ride your bike. Without delving too deeply into exercise physiology, adaptations happen during rest, and not stress. In other words, you’re making improvements while sitting on your couch at home, not while hammering on a Tuesday night. Of course, this is a gross oversimplification of a rather complex process, but what I would like to draw your attention to is the importance of recovery. Without proper rest and recovery, you won’t give your body fuel to adapt, and you won’t be able to properly stress your body when the time for the next workout comes. That brings me to my main point, a good post- ride recovery solution. This can come in the form of a drink, bar, or meal, but the idea is the same; to replace glycogen and rebuild muscle. I’ll get to the specifics in a bit, but first a science lesson. Suppose for a moment that you buy a new car. It’s a sophisticated car, so it has two gas tanks, a small one for gasoline and a large one for crude oil. When you’re driving slowly, the crude oil is refined and burned to power the engine. When you want to drive quickly, the car switches to the gasoline tank and burns it right away. You can go faster when you use the gasoline, but since it’s a small tank, you’ll run out quickly. For those wondering by now, this is a metaphor for the human body. Your body also has two “gas tanks” where it stores fuel, those two fuels being fat and glucose. Since even Andy Schleck has enough fat reserves to power even the longest of rides, the problem become