Bull City Cycling

the league(s)

2013-02-22T06:55:00.001-05:00

Are you one of those cycling dorks who doesn't really follow other sports and are secretly jealous of those other dorks who have fantasy football leagues?

Probably not.

However, if you're looking for something fun to do during an ice storm or whenever you're not reading your favorite local bicycling-related blog, maybe enter a "virtual director sportif" pool. They take a little time to set up, but you don't need to tinker with them each week. (Of course, if you pick a dude who breaks his leg or gets busted for doping, you're stuck with him for the season, but sometimes, that's how the world works.)

So, check out one of the big ones at Podium Cafe. Post your team name in our "comments" section and I'll add you to a mini-league.
Or, join our lower-tech Canadian (are those terms redundant?) friends for a spring classics-only competition at Fort Garry.

Act quickly, deadlines are like, now.

new year/new gear

2013-02-19T14:36:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the year isn't that new. But nice riding weather is just around the corner and I'm finally going through the process of re-cabling and re-tire-ing (although not retiring) bikesand swapping off old broken things for shing new ones.

Like most of you, the fellows at BCC often covet shiny new things, but enjoy some of the less glamorous but reliable and affordable things. Take for example wheels. Through technological advances in design and manufacturing, they now make wheels that are many thousand dollars. And, through technological advances in marketing, they have also found a way to sell these ridiculous things, despite the fact that they are often more fragile and possibly impossible to repair and may or may not stop under wet or icy conditions.

So I was curious when Dave at Durham Cycles mentioned this wheelset. Seemingly, simple, repariable without any proprietary parts (I'm looking at you, Mavic spokes), and made of metal. I'm also intrigued by the new "fatter" 23mm rim width. I eventually jumped on the bandwagon and got a 29er mountain bike, after people had hyped bigger wheels as the next big thing, and it really is a design development worth embracing. Same goes for tubeless mountain bike tires (although not tubeless cyclocross tires just yet). However, I've been reluctant to make the switch to fatter road rims since you supposedly need to adjust your brakes when you change wheels.

So dear readers, anyone try out these fat rims? Notice smoother ride? Better cornering? Fewer flats? Increased telepathic powers? Holler back and let me know.

returning to form

2013-02-17T14:44:00.001-05:00

We're back. We've been training in secrecy at an undisclosed location run by monks. And I've finally figured out how to win a bike race (forward to 1:20 or click here for the secret).

Also, learn how to win a rap-off.

Our science is too tight. More wisdom later.

2012-11-12T08:15:00.001-05:00

Internet Famous, No. 2

2012-10-31T22:15:00.003-04:00

Internet Famous: The Professor

Boone Riding with the BCC Boys!

2012-09-18T18:01:00.001-04:00

Boone Day 1 by cdkorps at Garmin Connect - Details

Geoff and Ben.

Notice the gigantic air mattress. Hmm, who owns that?

Getting ready for some grinds!

Cedar Bluff Ride by cdkorps at Garmin Connect - Details

2012-09-06T13:25:00.001-04:00

Cedar Bluff Ride by cdkorps at Garmin Connect - Details

we still ride bikes

2012-07-18T21:16:00.002-04:00

Local weekly rides.

Tuesday nights at 5:30. Fast. About 25 miles at race pace.
Thursday nights 6:00. Mellow. About 30 miles at about 17 mph.

Both rides continue throughout the summer, departing from Durham Cycles on 9th Street.

Nattys

2012-05-05T16:36:00.001-04:00

Ever feel dejected after getting crushed by Mustachioed Matt or the other Duke guys on the Tuesday Night Ride?
Don't worry, you're in good company.
Duke's men just won the collegiate national team time trial.
Check it.
Nice work fellas.

One Family

2012-04-19T08:01:00.001-04:00

ASHEVILLE

2012-02-29T17:48:00.004-05:00

2016!!!

start training.

busy bees

2012-02-08T20:35:00.000-05:00

It's taken me a long time to write a short update, but DFL always beats DNF, right?

Item 1: NASCROSS at Orange County Speedway
The second running of the Durham-area cyclocross race was a hit. Great course, great turnout, and even some cyclocross-ish weather. Mad props to the Garneau Custom folks and the Durham Regulators. I think Ryan was the only one of us to race bikes (excluding the excommunicated Linus) and he scored a solid top 10 with bald tires on a wet course. I had to work later in the day so I was only able to jump in the 5-mile cross country run presented by the awesome folks at Bull City Running Company, the fine folks who are behind the Run-DMC inspired RUN-DRM t-shirts. I got smoked by one of the BRCR ringers and had Regulators' Russell nipping at my heels the entire race. In the end I managed to bring back a little of my patented Waluga Junior High School XC kick and beat one of the two high school kids I had been chasing the whole race. Next year, we're pushing for an earlier date and are hoping for even more participants and spectators. Actually, at cyclocross races, spectators ARE participants!

Item 2: Trips For Kids February ride
Ben, JD, and I joined Andrea, Tristan, Chris, and the whole Triangle Trips for Kids crew for some muddy mountain biking at Carolina North (aka the Chapel Hill trails). JD brought his son Luke, an even smaller but equally gnarly version of himself to rip the trails on a bmx bike. And special thanks to Patrick from Duke Cycling for joining us. If you're interested in volunteering, check them out.

Item 3: Word on the street is that the Pirate is getting married. If this makes any sense to you, you're probably stoked.

Item 4: Luna Chix
As a big fan of women's cycling and Luna Bars, I also wanted to plug this local women's team I heard about through my friend and and new recruit who we'll call Al B. Scher.

Item 5: Bike racing comes to 9th Street
Duke Cycling is hosting a collegiate bike

So I have heard...

2012-01-23T09:10:00.001-05:00

to no tubes, or not to no tubes?

2012-01-09T13:23:00.003-05:00

so i've been back on the cx bike for a few forest trail rides--only 4 1/2 months after the collarbone break! man, i've missed riding in the dirt. i'm still riding cautiously and slowly, but since i'm not really "training" for anything, slow is swell.

however, i am contemplating some equipment issues that are needlessly slowing me down. true, lots of bloggers complain about how radder equipment would make them faster, which is all totally, completely, and absolutely true. more new expensive carbon stuff = more faster! but i'm talking about something that even the retro-est of grouches would agree will slow you down: flat tires.

here's the situation: i was (futilely) chasing Linus over the Old Oxford Road cobblestones and i double-flatted with my tubeless tires (Stan's 340 rims with Michelin Mud2 tires, about 40psi). i converted to tubeless cx tires to hopefully avoid pinchflats and actually get a more tubular-like ride for training (without destroying tubulars on the trails and having to walk home, broke and disgraced). it appears that on both the front and back tire, i kinda tore one of the tread-nubs (technically speaking), creating a small puncture in the tire. the stans sealant eventually fixed it up, but after another ride yesterday, it either re-ruptured or i tore my tire a new a(ir)-hole. either way, the sealant eventually (kinda) sealed up the problem, but i hate regularly stoping mid-ride to fix this reoccurring problem.

so my question to you, dear readers, is: what's the deal here?
are michelin muds not the right tire for road and gravel road riding?
am i just riding wrong on too much sharp gravel?
am i doing something else wrong (wrong pressure or need more sealant)?
is going tubeless stupid for cx training?

i like tubeless for mountain biking. i also realize that these michelins are not technically specified for tubeless riding, but lots of folks have had good luck with them. any help is greatly appreciated.

slow frameset

2011-12-28T17:30:00.002-05:00

Okay, I'll admit it: I've always wanted to be superfast. And I'll also admit it: in the past, I've trained. Cardio. Weight training. Intervals. Distance. I've even attempted to hone my handling skills to non-sucking status. Admittedly, I've also made numerous unnecessary equipment upgrades, hoping that this would help to make me superfast. But none of these things provided the answer to making me superfast.

Which is to say, none of my previous searching provided me with a suitable excuse for not going faster. Until now.

A slow skeleton. The way I see it, I've been competing with Cat-5 bones all this time. The proof is in the x-rays. Four months post-surgery and my collarbone still shows significant "non-union" (to the non-southerners in our readership, "non-union" is not a euphemism for Confederate army supporter, but in fact means that the darn thing is still broken). Slow healing is obviously also a sign that my own internal frameset just isn't as lively and responsive as it could be (I mean they tried to upgrade it with titanium--hello, it's 2011, where the hell is my carbon fiber bone replacement?!?).

Unfortunately, I probably need to stick with the current model. However, bone can be replaced with cadaver bone, so if you know where Fignon's tomb is and you have a shovel I can borrow, holler back.

The good news is that the bone feels fine. The doctor seemed to suggest that it looks stable and that the odds of re-injuring the right collarbone by falling off a bike is about the same as breaking the left one. So, I guess that's kind of also good news. I'm still hesitant to get back on the mountain bike just yet, but maybe I'll start doing some push ups.

Go Break a Leg...no Really...DON'T!!!!!

2011-12-02T19:04:00.001-05:00

Greetings from the BCC carnage hospital. I couldn't let all the East Coast cool kidz BCC'ers have all the fun. 7 weeks ago right now at this very moment in time, I thought it would be a great idea to head out for a quick after work ride (remember sunshine after 5pm?!?!)on the way home to Denver from Super Bike Land (Boulder, CO). I figured a quick 1.5 hour mountain bike singletrack tempo riding around Flat Iron Vista would provide some nice preparation for upcoming cyclocross endeavors.

Well, it was going great until about 45 minutes in....when I escaped a slow, twisty rocky section of trail for a wide open descending, flow inducing meadow section. Powering, accelerating my 29er Specialized Epic up to full speed.....I look long down the trail, ensuring a clear path.....then POW!!!! and Oh dear.......under full power a perfect storm of devastation erupted. As I was looking down the trail, my right toe clipped a rock........the following chain of events was odd. The power, mixed with the violence of the impact jammed my heel into the crank.....binding my foot and forcing my forefoot to rotate 90+ degrees laterally (in case you are wondering....this isn't normal) and my tibia (big bone in lower leg) and fibula (small bone in lower leg) both snapped. Amazingly, due to the high speed I was going (Garmin indicated a bit over 20mph on the singletrack) and the physics of everything.....I didn't crash. My momentum kept me going and I eventually coasted to a stop......and wilted off my bike. Laying flat on my back on the singletrack looking at the sky......I pushed my trusty steed to the side and knew what I was about to see. I tilted my head up......and yep.....my right foot was facing the wrong way. AHHHHHH!! A moment of panic.....a yell for help......a grab for the cell phone.

911......"hello.......I've just broken my leg badly mountain biking and I'm alone on the trail"

Interlude of facts:
Its October 14th, 2011
This is a my celebratory 35th birthday ride (birthday was a few days earlier)
Its 5pm and warm
I'm alone
I'm near town on a moderately tame trail system
I've ridden this system a lot
My cell call to 911 is dropped (thanks AT&T)
It's going to be getting dark soon
The sun is dropping below the Flat Irons
The temperature is dropping
I can't move.

This is where things get fuzzy. I panicked a bit, because I was alone......but my second call to 911 went through and the respond with "we are on the way". I respond....."hey.....i'm out in the woods.....3+ miles from the trailhead." They claim to know how to get to me. I unloaded in furious fashion as many details of my location on the first call.....in case I passed out or went into shock.

About this time, two high school mountain bike racer kids came on site. They were great. These kids stayed cool and just talked with me. I asked them if they would stay until someone else showed up.....and show up they did. Over the next 45 minutes or so, about 15+ mountain bikers stopped to help and check on things. I was in no shape to move and going into shock....shaking and chilled. It had been a hot day, but in Colorado in October....once the sun goes down......the temps can drop quickly!! We have zero humidity usually. A wonder lady named Cathy stopped and helped hold my foot in place. I was shaking and causing my leg to flop a bit....which was driving pain. She held it in place and just talked to me. I passed my iPhone to the high school kids and said...."hey....snap some photos!"

In the distance I could hear sirens. It felt like an eternity, but help was on the way. I had called my wife April and left her a message......the Boulder Sheriff's office called her too. Freaked out....once again my new friend Cathy talked to April on the phone from the trail. Basically what I am saying is that while we are all quick to say how horrible things are in the world today with society and all.......there is still greatness and kindness in so many. The help and attention I received on the trail that day was amazing.

After about 45 minutes of laying in the trail......the search-rescue team arrived with paramedics, a ranger, a sheriff and assorted other folks. All in all I'd say my phone call, deployed at least 15 experts to come to my aid. I felt guilty and constantly was apologizing and thanking all of them over and over again. They splinted my leg, IV'd me, wrapped me in blankets and loaded me in a gurney with mountain bike wheels and hand brakes. They used 4 people at a time to roll my 4x4 stretcher up the trail to a nearby access point. While I was far from any and all trailheads, I was close to a fire access road that flanked the rear of the open space park. Loaded in the ambulance, I watched through the rear window as the park ranger handed my Epic 29er off to my friend Jay, who Angel Cathy had also called for me from the trail.

I arrived at the hospital around 6:30 pm (only 1.5 hours after my incident). Normal hospital ER stuff followed......with the exception of the horrendous swelling in my leg. I was a ripe candidate for compartment syndrome, which is scary!! If the swelling did not stop....they were going to have to filet my leg open to release the pressure. Ugh. Oh and I need surgery. But not until the swelling stopped and went down..........so upstairs to sleep in the hospital for the night (somewhere in there around midnight......my poor wife went to find us food......Taco Bell). The Next day (Saturday) I was sent home to rest for a WEEK with a broken leg to allow the swelling to go down. My surgery would follow the next Friday October 21st.

Surgery was successful, but actually a bit painful. I was knocked out of course, but the surgery ended up being nearly 3 hours, instead of the 1.5 hours they told me. Off to recovery and another night in the hospital. Yay. That was a long night. My body rejected almost all of the narcotics they gave me.....well I should say it didn't respond to any of them......morphine, percocet, dilaudid, or vicodin.....but oxycontin worked!

More Facts:
I've never broken any bones before (just 2 fractured fingers)
I've never had surgery before
I've never spent the night in the hospital (now I've spent 2!!)

I left the hospital with some new hardware....a titanium tibial rod INSIDE my tibia and 6 titanium screws.

And if anyone is wonder.....that is $9500 worth of titanium in my leg.....so your custom built titanium Dura Ace road bike with carbon wheels is a GREAT DEAL!!!! Enjoy it.

Now in closing the next chapter. Six weeks post surgery....and still on crutches. Doctor told me today I have 6 more weeks of crutches at least. I can start standing lightly on my right leg as of today. I've been back on the bike for a few weeks now (stationary trainer, flat pedals and no resistance). The doctor has also given me the green light to add resistance now. Total recovery for my bones is 3-4 months.

It was a freak incident....not even an accident. Everything is different now.....everything.....well except for I registered for a 100 mile mountain bike race today! 2012 Bailey Hundo in Bailey Colorado....June 16th, 2012. I'll be there riding hard one way or another. Doctor said it was a great idea.....and I think he wants to race it too!! Now I just have to beat him.....gotta love Colorado.

Bailey Hundo 2012 (Comeback Kid Fund)

2011-12-02T19:01:00.000-05:00

Bailey Hundo 2012 (Comeback Kid Fund): The Bailey HUNDO is a charity race focused on raising money to make sure the future of cycling is bright! All funds raised go to our nonprofit partners: Colorado Mountain

i typed for miles

2011-11-16T21:19:00.000-05:00

writing about cycling is tough. first, you need to write about training, finding the perfect balance between bragging about how hard your workouts are (providing a metric of your awesomeness) and also how you haven't had time to really train enough (providing a pre-excuse for sucking). then, you need to write about rides that turned "epic", by playing up the incredible sequence of events and intense conditions that you were able to overcome while downplaying the lack of foresight and planning that probably got you in such a stupid situation in the first place. next, write some shit about your equipment and how it's awesomer in awesomer ways that other bikes and that you don't care if people thing your bar tape is starting to unravel. then, you can write about that race where things were going sweet until those other dudes did some "negative racing" and that one guy did something squirrely and you missed the break and there went your chances for certain victory.

okay, so writing about cycling is very easy. however, following my patented formula becomes substantially more difficult when you don't actually ride a bike anymore.

it's been sad, watching the dust collect on my (obviously awesome) bikes and the air slowly leak out of the tires. it's been sad reading through the results from local races and see the guys i should totally be able to beat if the course just suited me better and not being able to write about how i should totally been able to beat them if the course just suited me better. i drank a glass of cytomax the other day, just to see if i remembered how.

but i still feel hope. my injury is temporary and i will ride again. friends are out getting rad, consistently and thoroughly. new bike shops are opening up all over town. cycles marguerite is totally happening, and happening right.

although it's been frustrating, i think this time off the bike will prove to be a valuable experience. once i can figure out precisely how it's a valuable experience, i'll write all about it.

Dirk Hofmann

2011-11-15T10:01:00.000-05:00

Get familiar!

BMC Development Squad

2011-11-02T13:10:00.003-04:00

Check out this article on the new BMC Development Squad: HERE See if you can pick out the former NCCX CAT 4 winner of a few years ago....

bone machine

2011-11-01T21:14:00.003-04:00

i've got some sweet new gear to test out:

this baby is the 4000+, so you know it's dope.

okay so the backstory:
collarbone is still not healed. the x-ray looks like it did one month ago, which looked like it did two months ago. the doc squinted his eyes and said that he could see some healing, which may be true since i'm not an expert. on the other hand, if you look at a piece of toast long enough, you may be able to convince yourself that you can see the image of jesus

so 10 weeks in, and i'm still not fixed. and although this is slow, it's supposedly not alarmingly slow. however, it did mean that they decided to give (sell) me an ultrasound bone stimulator. this, of course, is a cue to all our friends in new jersey to exclaim heartily "hey! i got yer bone stimulator RIGHT HERE!!!" thanks guys.

either way, still not real cycling for me. in the meantime, i'll be cranking out mad ultrasonic power and give you a full product review soon(er or later). if it works, i may try it on my brain to get smarter and my muscles to get faster and...well, let's see if it works, first. until then:

(does anyone else think that Andrea from Trips For Kids kinda looks like Kim Deal?)

Schleck Brothers-Tour of the France Interview

2011-10-21T06:37:00.001-04:00

If it ain't moto, it's worthless

2011-10-10T19:10:00.002-04:00

-Ross Shafer, Salsa Cyces, circa 1997

In the spirit of the last post, which waxed nostalgically to the moment when I was getting into bikes, this one is for Ross.

The Kiddo Uno from Indusnow Distribution. on Vimeo.

Legend

2011-10-05T17:07:00.001-04:00

Props if you can identify this legend. The term is overused, but this guy was legend before we even used that kind of language.

lazy bones

2011-10-05T16:03:00.000-04:00

i hope you are enjoying my clavicleblog.

last week i had my one-month-after-my-two-week-after-surgery check-up/irradiation session. x-rays are fun. they're the only way to really see what bones are doing (except for the way that involves removing pesky skin and muscle tissue). plus, if decades of comic books and possible misinterpretations of nietzche have taught us nothing it is that which does not kill us will surely give us super powers, unless of course it just makes us weaker, which it probably will. i find it funny that they point this giant tube at my shoulder--6" from my head--and give me a little lead blanket to cover my junk. shouldn't i be more worried about cooking my brain? sure, i care about my junk, but as a cyclocrosser, obviously not much. but that's just my pesky brain talking. i'm sure a few more trips to the hospital will take care of that silly thing.

as best as i can tell, the x-ray schedule is designed to answer a series of questions:
1) in emergency room: is this thing broken? yep, you broke it.
2) after surgery: did we put everything back together right? yep, looks good. wait, are those my car keys in there?
3) two weeks after surgery: hey, buddy, have you done anything to fuck up our handywork in the past two weeks? did anything fall out? we used 6 $200 screws* so i don't think so. are your sure my keys aren't in there? i still can't find them. [*approximate cost of titanium hardward--i did see the itemized bill in my online medical records, but it has mysteriously disappeared.]
4) one month after the two week x-ray: is everything healed up yet? no? we didn't think so. see you in another month.

so this most-recent xray looked nearly identical to the one taken a month ago. i can post them both and you can do one of those "find the differences" games, but you would lose. apparently, when they do clavicle surgery, they clean up some of the area around the bone, which makes it heal a little more slowly than it would without surgery. can anyone confirm if this is true? or are my bones just lazy? actually, based i've read on stuff online, not seeing signs of healing 6 weeks after surgery isn't surprising. and given the fact i learned this from the internet, it gives me much confidence in its accuracy.

so with this week's musical interlude, let's turn these Layzie Bones into some Bizzy Bones so i can get back to tha crossroads (which is to say bike rides out near Dodson's Crossroads, not the mythical space where the living pass on to the afterlife (although i would like to see a giant ghost Easy-E hanging out in the clouds over Orange County)).