spare cycles

So much went on Wednesday, but I'm still buried under a mountain of photos and have little time to write. Two of the major items are the ones you see above. Yes Lance raced 'cross, perhaps the oddest presence in a field that had Justin England wearing an awful wig, a rider dressed as Elvis,and fans pushing dollar bills into the helmets of passing riders. The field split quickly into two races: the race for the victory between Trebon, Craig, Wells, Johnson, and others in the first group, and the race to shoot Lance Armstrong in the second group. You can see more of my Lance photos in my Road Bike Action Web gallery.

There's also the Cervelo P4: get yours now before the UCI rules it illegal. If the water bottle were frame it might be illegal, but as it is removable, somehow it isn't. They claim its the fastest possible bike: UCI legal or no. I'm a little sad to see that physics hasn't somehow designed a better looking bike. It kinda looks like someone welded together a TT frame using tubing from a bunch of different spare bikes. RoadbikeReview has a video of the naked frame, so you can judge for yourself.

I leave for Interbike tonight -- I'll have to do Outdoor Demo another year. I probably won't have time to do much coverage here as I'll be supporting MTBR's and RoadbikeReview's much more detailed efforts. I'll also be trying to corner Fritz of Cyclelicio.us for some commute bike recommendations. He's covering Interbike for Commute by Bike. Just yesterday, two of my co-workers asked me for recommendations. so I've been perusing Commute by Bike's bike database.

My review is up on RoadbikeReview, please check it out and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your critiques as one of the things I struggled on was how to find the right voice with the review -- i.e. the right balance between marketing info, personal anecdotes, attempted humor, and critique.

And yes, as the review reveals, I did crash the bike (lack of attention), though as you can tell from the video at the end that the damage wasn't too bad. I didn't really want to do a video, but I liked the video for the Campy Super Record so much that I thought it would be a bit hypocritical to not do one myself. I also became enamored with the idea of using my Park stand to rotate the bike around during the video -- I know it sounds silly, but it's like the stand was made so you could easily spin the bike around for shooting a video :).

I'm sad to see the bike go, even if my garage is a bit crowded. We're going up OLH today for our work lunch ride and I could really use all the assistance I can get.

Storck Absolutist 0.9 Review on RoadbikeReview.com

From Bicycle Newswire:

...Since his hiring, Mr. Dinh has made an immediate impact on the site, which has expanded its offerings to include editorial product reviews, expanded race coverage, and cycling videos.

...Also, as a direct result of the hiring of a dedicated site manager for RoadBikeReview, traffic has more than doubled in the last six months. Cebedo continues, "The monthly traffic of RoadBikeReview has increased from 180,000 users to over 400,000 from January to July.

Fritz of Cyclelicious introduced me to Thien back when he had just been hired as RBR site manager. Since then the site's really grown leaps and bounds -- I really like how they're starting to introduce video reviews, like the Campy Super Record review I linked to last week. Even as a photographer I have to appreciate the additional insight that a video can provide.

Oh yeah (bias disclosure), and I just got my first review bike for RBR last night. It's a Storck Absolutist 0.9. My poor Look 585 is jealous. It's frantically looking around for ways to drop down to the 14.8lbs of the Storck, but it's alright -- I think my Look is still prettier.

RoadBikeReview's got video of the new 11-speed groupset

Not my bike -- there's only 50 of these puppies, so hunt down your local Look dealer if you want yours.

I don't even have my Look 585 assembled and I'm already taking photos of other bikes to make it jealous. I was a bit of a Mondrian nerd in college, so the idea of a Mondrian-inspired, limited edition, bike of awesomeness appeals to me. The top photo is my favorite because, for me, it evokes Mondrian's "Lozenge" compositions. I would have attempted to steal the Look 586, but the S-sized frame would have been a bit clown-ish for my 6'2" frame.

I should note that I'm terrible at studio shots -- my prior studio lighting experience was two headshots and never anything with bikes. Bikes are more well-behaved subjects, but I had not anticipated the difficulty of photographing spokes on a black backdrop: the 586 appears to be riding on a magical spoke-less Carbones. While the black works for the closeups, a white backdrop is definitely the way to go for a profile shot.

RoadBikeReview: 586 Mondrian Limited Edition

While a bit amusing to think of a "solar lamp", but this little solar metal rider pedals away when exposed to a light source and doubles its own light source when plugged in. I'd love to see video of the metal rider crank away.

via popgadget

The article/BoingBoing refer to it as the Stormstrooper/Star Wars helmet, but it feels more Transformers to me:

Created by Stephen Green of Brunel University, the helmet sports an airfilter to help riders with asthma/hay fever. I don't know if that's the front or the top of the helmet above, but I'm pretty sure I won't be sporting one.

'Star Wars' helmet to help cyclists

via BoingBoing

update: darn it, I missed this when cyclelicio.us posted this a full day ago. Been scrolling through the feed reader too fast to get all the TdF content in place.

via the Make Blog (1, 2) comes two projects that show what you can do with your bike gear in your spare time: Bike Component Art and attaching LEDs to your bike helmet.

The Make Magazine blog has a roundup for trailers you can build for your bike on the cheap, whether it be out of bamboo, wood, or other materials.

Make Blog: The Bamboo bicycle trailer & DIY bicycle trailers

I've been jealously following Neil@ROAD's coverage of the new Trek Madone. Just the other day I was test riding a Specialized Roubaix and now Trek has to go and modernize their lineup a bit with... (drumroll) and sloping downtube! Actually, there's quite a lot that's new with the design. Spinopsys points out the new 90mm bottom bracket. There's also a new seatmast design, a prettier paint job, and various weight-saving improvements that have shaved 250g off the package.

The new lineup will be divided into "Pro Fit", "Performance Fit" (30mm taller head tube for comfort), and "WSD (Women Specific Design) Fit". I can barely afford the entry level Roubaix right now with it's Shimano 105 group, so I'm pretty sure the base-level Ultegra Madone is out of my range.

Trek Madone

Maker Faire features dozens of bike-related exhibits and demonstrations (see last year's entry, "Crazy fun bikes at Maker Faire". I only managed to make it to a small sampling of them today, but I hope to hit up some more tomorrow (e.g. Wooden Bikes).

Nemo Gould/Nemomatic.com bike and bike-related sculptures:

Urban Mover electric bikes:

I took the UM24 folding model out for a test ride. I've been denied boarding onto Caltrain more than once due to lack of bike space on the baby bullets, so a 49lb folding electric bike is quite appealing (the battery pack even quickly detaches if you want to distribute the weight more evenly). It was very different from the electric bike I currently own. My model requires you to manually control the throttle to get the power assist. The UM24 also has a throttle, but it also has a speed sensor that takes the bike up to full speed the second you start pedaling. It takes a second or two to get used to this immediate acceleration, but soon you're crusing around the fairgrounds having the time of your life. You can also get a torque sensor instead, which will make the power assist kick in more on the hills but less in the flats.

The model at Maker Faire used NiMH batteries, but the 2007 models are switching to LiON. The 2006 models are forward compatible with this update, but you do need to buy a new battery pack and motor -- probably not worth it until your NiMH battery pack runs out of juice.

Miscellaneous bikes (LED bike and bike merry-go-round):

I finally got to take my Garmin Edge 305 out for a real spin today. I've been sick all week -- the training data shows that I'm still a bit under the weather -- but I really couldn't pass up the opportunity to view my climb up Old La Honda in full GPS/Heart Rate/Cadence/Elevation/Speed detail. I can see in the data the 30-seconds it took me to get my chain back on; I can see in the data how I spent nearly half of the 2-hour ride in a Zone 5 heart rate; I can see that I really need to work on my maintaining my cadence.

The Edge 305 comes with two different ways to pull apart your data. The included Training Center software is a PC application that lets you graph up to four streams of data against each other (e.g. pace, speed, elevation, heart rate, cadence, % max HR, and grade). It also comes with a rudimentary map that highlights the route and shows the location of the selected data point. I haven't even begun to fully explore the Training Center as it also includes workouts that you can load onto the 305 as well as courses.

The other application is the MotionBased.com service that lets you upload your training data. It comes with a free Lite account and constant ads to try and get you to upgrade to the full account ($8-$12/month). The MotionBased app isn't as good at pulling apart your data, but it comes with some killer Web features: Google Maps integration, export to Google Earth (KML), and the 'Map Player", a Internet-Explorer only application that lets you playback your ride on a map (not Google Maps).

Its going to take me awhile to fully experience all the features the 305 offers. I'm looking forward to trying out the automatic GPS lap markers for my ride to work as well as more of the training features.

Part of me was holding out for a power meter. It would certainly provide even better training data than something like the Edge. But the Edge is cheaper and I also find it to be fun. My inner map-nerd really likes to see my data GPS-located, which is something that power meters can't provide. I'm also not a competitive cyclist, so something like a power meter would be extravagant whereas the Edge seems to be a more justifiable gadget-geek purchase.

The makers of Booster Blades call them "the alternative to roller skates and bicycles." They are essentially roller blades retrofitted with V-like riser that lets you lift the boot up while the wheels keep in contact with the ground. Somehow the required motion resembles pedaling, but I don't see it in the video.

Booster Blades

via Gizmodo

The Pulse Bicycle Safety Helmet is just a design submission, but it's an interesting one at that. Designed by Julie-Ann Davies, the helmet features an mp3 player, bluetooth headset (for cellphones), and storage for your cycling computer -- the . On the safety front it features a large LED rear light and a customizable reflective shell. The ear drop with speaker is also only on the non-road side. I'm not convinced it ventilates well, but the design shows a lot of good thinking on how to take the bicycle helmet into the 21st century.

via Popgadget

One thing that was clear during the Solvang time trial warmups is that the riders like their iPods (see photos below). Cycling accessory companies certainly have a market for blending tunes and riding. Oakley took the tunes craze to the next level by releasing the Thump glasses with integrated mp3 player. Pearl Izumi wanted to get in the game but their product line was less conducive: mp3 bike gloves? mp3 arm warmers? mp3 shoes?

Their choice: mp3 bib shorts. The shorts feature integrated touch controls on your leg to switch tracks and adjust volume. Somehow, somewhere (insert joke), the shorts store 16-hours of mp3 playback and bluetooth connectivity. Not everything about these shorts is ridiculous: $100 from each pair does go to help the Davis Phinney Foundation.

via Gizmodo

In a move that will certainly inspire battles along the same lines as automatic vs. manual tranmissions for cars, Shimano has announced a "Shimano Coasting Components" with a three-speed automatic transmission for bikes. I find that novice bicyclists tend to push too big of a gear, so I imagine that this could be a very beneficial technology for the casual cyclist.

See also Shimano's electric shifters

via Gizmodo

Surfing the Web to find out if the General Wesley Clark for President rumors are true? Who cares? What I want to know more about are the WaveCrest electric bikes that Clark is promoting. In the past I've ridiculed a certain other electric bike because (a) it is designed to look like a dinky moped (b) it goes slower than my road bike (~22mph in the flats) (c) it is designed to look like a dinky moped.

WaveCrest's bike, on the other hand, (a) is designed on a mountain bike frame (b) gets up to 30mph (c) can be taken off road, possibly even mountain biking (one of its intended applications is military use). Also, the bike has pedals - though none of the videos actually show the pedals being used so I'm not clear as to how functional they are (though they are mounted on a triple chainring).

What else makes the WaveCrest special? Their key technology is advertised as an adaptive electric propulsion system that can reconfigure the torque/efficiency of the motor thousands of times per second. Their first application is a bike, as that is the easiest, but in the future they are eyeing the automotive industry.
- Election Race? First, Check Out This Bike
- Another press release with video links in the sidebar

Surfing the Web to find out if the General Wesley Clark for President rumors are true? Who cares? What I want to know more about are the WaveCrest electric bikes that Clark is promoting. In the past I've ridiculed a certain other electric bike because (a) it is designed to look like a dinky moped (b) it goes slower than my road bike (~22mph in the flats) (c) it is designed to look like a dinky moped.

WaveCrest's bike, on the other hand, (a) is designed on a mountain bike frame (b) gets up to 30mph (c) can be taken off road, possibly even mountain biking (one of its intended applications is military use). Also, the bike has pedals - though none of the videos actually show the pedals being used so I'm not clear as to how functional they are (though they are mounted on a triple chainring).

What else makes the WaveCrest special? Their key technology is advertised as an adaptive electric propulsion system that can reconfigure the torque/efficiency of the motor thousands of times per second. Their first application is a bike, as that is the easiest, but in the future they are eyeing the automotive industry. - Election Race? First, Check Out This Bike - Another press release with video links in the sidebar