Went up to take a lovely and short hike in Stevens Creek County Park* with my son and his grandmother. Driving was hard due to about 1000 hustlers on the road. They kept stopping at every turnout and gaggling about the holidays. I fully expect that you all here would have planned your trip out in advance and only stopped when something broke--which it wouldn't because you are, as the title says, the money on the back.

* I only expect Savington to know this place.

 

On a standard weekend day, cyclists will outnumber cars on that road ~100 to 1. You caught it on a holiday. I just rode up there myself a couple of weeks ago and will be there tomorrow, actually.

 

Fun Fact : On certain almost every mountain road here in Colorado there are two ranking brackets for Strava. People who figured out to take a Garmin in their Car... and Cyclists.

 

Same everywhere. "Est Power 3200w"

 

 

First crit, first crash. Moved left to sprint for the line just as a guy was coming up my left side. D'oh. Got out of it with no broken bones, but two stitches and a very beat up bike.

Bike Ride Profile | Early Bird Crit #1 near Fremont | Times and Records | Strava

Next question: Can I ride with stitches in my hand?

 

I raced Angle-Fire DH Nationals a few years ago with 4 stitches across my thumb-pad part of my palm. That mountain is gnarly and I was holding on for dear life in the upper section. I just put a bead of super-glue down the stitches so blood wouldn't leak.

 

Did you take him out as well? Pics of injuries for you and the bicycle? Is that now your "race bike"?

 

Would you ride on this crank? Campy OT Comp Ultra.





Click for huge:
https://i.imgur.com/sZ5Lgqj.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/xPMNG4Y.jpg

 

I think so. Deburr and cover with nail polish if you have any rough edges in high stress areas. Shimano and Campy are kinda over built. They'll tolerate a lot of dents and scratches + watts without failing catastrophically or otherwise.

 

do you see any cracking?

Just looks like the clear came off. Now your a weight weenie.

 

Welcome to racing. Crankset looks fine.

However, contrary to popular belief, cranksets do fail often enough for me to see at least 10-15. Shimanos cleave perpendicular to the arm near or at the pedal threads, only 3 or 4 of these I've seen. Campagnolo tends to separate at the pedal insert. Sram and fsa both had problems with the arms disbonding from the spindle.

 

My buddy has broken two 7900 cranks about 1" in from the spindle.

 

It's usually the same people who break multiple Shimano cranksets. Something about the way they pedal.

Same goes for wheels, same guys break spokes all day.

 

Had all my carbon bits x-rayed. Crank is fine, as suspected. Bars are cracked from the lever clamp crushing the carbon when it twisted. Fork is fine other than the broken lawyer tab.

I'm a little nervous about racing the S3 now. I'm supposed to do the Cal Aggie crit in 3 weeks. I'll be healthy but I may not be so eager to sprint for a win this time. :(

 

Crits will have that effect whether you crash or not. So may hairball moves. Good bike handling skills save skin. I never went down in a crit but had so many close calls, I couldn't count. Guys falling into me and me lifting back up with my leg or shoulder. Guys brake checking me, hooking my front wheel and I somehow manage to stay up while they go down (that's backwards), guys falling in front of me and I bunny hop them in the drops at about 25mph. I remember one crit where I bunny hopped the first bike/rider on the ground, landed on one his wheels and it made a satisfying crunch, before I could reset to bunny hop again another ride/bike went down in front of me so I manualled (coasting wheelie) across his back wheel and I think, hand, hitting his helmet with a pedal or something. Not a scratch.

Growing up on a BMX bike and then a few thousand hours on a mountain bike gave me the foundation for staying upright and retaining my standard complement of skin.

 

This. I'd have gone down several times if it weren't for MTB instincts kicking in.

 

I was surprised to find old BMX skills saving my bacon on the street motorcycle more than once when I started riding in the 80's. Violently dabbing, shifting weight and counter steering when hitting spilled diesel fuel at 50mph for example. Having a childhood background in gravity sports (surfing, skiing, skateboarding, etc.) in general, pays big dividends in wheeled sports as an adult.

 

May have to enter Google password because someone flagged it. Worth the watch though.

 

I'm sure many of you heard that CX Nats were cancelled this morning, seriously uncool.


This is the "damage" which halted the race. Tomorrow's course will be redesigned and not go under any tree canopies.
Tree Alerts


From what I've read, it look s like two trees caused the stoppage and although there is some talk about concern over the root structures of the trees, the group which raised the issue is concerned about grass under the tree canopies.

I rode the course for two laps on Thursday, it was legit as hell and the limestone steps were demoralizing. Its a real shame, never got to see the pros go around the course.