GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll

Follow Friday: 06-01-12

2012-06-01T09:08:05-04:00

by Gus Grissom, Tweet Department Chief

It's time to follow the trends and follow the tweets that keep us moving towards another weekend of #bikeracing...

It's interesting to see how bravado leads to the blues when something like the Killington Stage Race comes along. First, bravado:

Hey Vermont! Virginia's coming and hell's coming with us! #KSR #bikeracing

— Dan Netzer (@celeritycycling) May 25, 2012

Then the blues:

Stage 1 was a heartbreaker. In a break of 4 all day, caught @ 5mi to go. Took a pedal in the ft wheel & had to wait for neutral support #KSR

— Dan Netzer (@celeritycycling) May 26, 2012

Then again, for some "fat kids" maybe there never was any bravado:

Rollin back to Bmore w @SneakiestRhino and 2 pairs of crampy, tired legs. Not much of a weekend for "fat kids" #bikeracing

— Michael Retzlaff (@pigeontickle) May 28, 2012

But this week it's Zach LaBry who asks the eternal question, "can I drink now?"

Really want a post-race beer. Pretty sure I haven't had enough food or water yet to make it a good idea. #cooked #bikeracing

— Zach LaBry (@zlabry) May 28, 2012

Before we drink, we race, no? Well, Drew Kora has a special jersey for a special race:

Raced in my first #crit last weekend. Was saving this jersey for the day. @twinsix twitter.com/drewkora/statu…

— drew kora (@drewkora) May 30, 2012

So, good luck to Drew and good luck to everyone out there who will be #bikeracing this weekend. Whether it's a #crit or in #Philly, tear it up and tweet it out so we know how it went.

GamJams Tech: Premes, Picks, Promos p/b November Bicycles — 5-31-12

2012-05-31T09:34:56-04:00

As a cyclist, the search for newer and better gear is constant — there's always something else out there. Premes, Picks, Promos will highlight both the next big thing and the sleeper deal.

If my Twitter feed is any indication, Skratch Labs has something good going. Based in Boulder, Colo., Skratch Labs is the baby of Allen Lim, the sports nutrition and science guru who has worked with the old Team CSC, Garmin (in all of its incarnations), RadioShack and now Omega Pharma-Quick Step. His behind-the-scenes work has turned into a full-fledged business that's spreading across the country — seemingly one tweet at a time.

The story goes (mostly) like this: Lim's initial work was focused on changing the way pro teams in Europe eat. Instead of traditional "energy" foods (boiled chicken, plain pasta, baguettes), he started making food with fresh ingredients, rice and natural flavors. That later turned into making a sports drink that didn't leave riders with an upset stomach after drinking it all day.

More recently, Lim worked with chef Biju Thomas to write The Feed Zone Cookbook (more on that below), which was designed to help athletes prepare healthy meals themselves.

The headlining product in the Skratch Labs arsenal is the Exercise Hydration Mix — formerly known as Secret Drink Mix. (Secret, because sponsored athletes would dump out whatever they were handed and use Lim's secret formula instead.) It comes in single-serve packets or a one-pound bag, in four flavors — lemon-lime, orange, raspberry and pineapple.

The draw with Exercise Hydration Mix is not that it's new and built on cyclists, it's that the ingredients are all-natural, and it includes less sugar and more electrolytes than something like, say, Gatorade. Being a Gatorade drinker on hot days, I was interested to try out something based more on new science and natural ingredients than mass-marketing. Plus, I was getting ready to leave town and was out of drink mix.

So I picked up a package of Skratch Labs lemon-lime mix. The first thing you'll notice is the price — $19.50 for a one-pound bag. That gets you 20 servings, so the easy math says $1/serving. By comparison, my $8.50ish canister of Gatorade powder gets me 192 bottles' worth. Yikes.

(Side note: Skratch says 2 tbsp of powder in 16oz. of water. Who has bottles that are 16oz? Anybody? Your current choices are 20, 21 and 24oz., from Specialized, Trek and Camelbak, etc. Why 16oz as the measure?)

But this is science, so let's go with it. I generally don't use a sports drink unless it's pretty hot (above 85) or if I'm going to be gone longer than three hours. Last summer, that meant I had Gatorade for most of July, which was brutal. I do remember feeling pretty awful after a race weekend that saw a heat index above 100 for two days, due partly to the effort but possibly also because I had a few gallons of Gatorade along the way.

For this weekend's test, I was faced with four hours of humid, windy northern Iowa riding. I had a planned stop about halfway to fill up bottles, so I brought a plastic bag with two servings' worth of mix in it instead of switching to water.

The first impression is a good one — the taste seems real, unlike the heavier, syrupy taste of Gatorade. Three hours in, when I was fighting a god-awful headwind on the flattest road imaginable, taking a drink was still pretty pleasant. Usually under effort like that, I have to force myself to drink Gatorade because the taste is so heavy. No such problems with Skratch.

Despite the effort, I finished feeling fairly fresh. I tossed it back into the big ring and then sprinted up the hills of the final few miles (the only part of the route that had hills). When I was done, I realized I hadn't felt any of the semi-random cramps that have marked my long efforts of the past few months. Could it have been the mix? Maybe, maybe not. But it definitely didn't hurt.

I followed up that initial test with another 4.5 hours on Monday. Once again, I brought along extra mix to keep Skratch in the bottles the whole ride. And again I felt good throughout the ride. Because of the hilly nature of Omaha-area riding, sometimes the last few miles are a death march. I rolled into the driveway fresh and ready to handle the rest of the day. (In reality, I played video games all afternoon, but I could have handled anything else, had the situation presented itself.)

Am I a convert? Yep. (I'll probably start tweeting about it soon, too.)

Since I don't use a ton of sports drink — I ride more than 3 hours twice a week at the most — the cost won't be a huge deal. No, it's not cheap, but with the limited time I get on the bike, I prefer to enjoy it — even if it costs me a few bucks more. Skratch drink mix tastes significantly better than anything else, I rode better (or so it seems) and I felt better at the end.

That's pretty much all I need.

If your local store doesn't carry Skratch products, you can find them in the Skratch online store.

About that cookbook ...

I mentioned above The Feed Zone Cookbook, which was the first of Lim's products to gain buzz. Over the winter, I was shown dozens of tasty meals via Twitter and blogs and Instagram (of course). Nobody invited me over, which is pretty standard, but I was curious. Not curious enough to buy it, but it was on my list.

The Feed Zone was released on the iTunes Store yesterday, and that's what finally got me on board. I already have a stack of cookbooks at home, so adding another isn't appealing. Instead, I now have the whole book on our iPad, which solves the storage issue and makes setting it up on the counter a lot easier. If you don't have an iPad, it works pretty well on an iPhone, too.

It's available here for $14.99. And ignore that one-star review — I haven't had any problems so far, either on the iPad or iPhone. Also, ignore anybody who can't spell peloton properly. If you're not the digital media type, you can also buy it at Velogear (this serves as my shameless plug of the week, since I'm a part-time employee of sorts there).

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In addition to being GamJams Tech Editor, Bryan Redemske has managed the Trek Bicycle Store of Omaha, is a professional writer, works in marketing for bike shops and is a Cat 3 racer. He drinks a lot of coffee.

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Sheesh, some of that stuff is expensive. Good thing you get your frames and wheels at Pro Deal pricing. Wait — you don't? You might want to look at November Bicycles. They've got a new racer-specific model designed to strip unnecessary pricing out of the cost of your new bike. It's like a Pro Deal for everyone.

November Bicycles. Race Smart.

Best of the Rest: 05-30-12

2012-05-30T09:15:45-04:00

Like those little Pringle-particles at the bottom of the can that you have to pour into your mouth to enjoy the salty goodness, we find the best of the rest of the blogs and race reports so you can get your fill...

DCMTB put another rider, Chris, in the hills at the Tour of Tucker County, but this one has some cool heartrate data and a back-to-racing idea (start with the easy stuff!).
But for getting down and dirty, DCMTB hit the off-road stuff at the Poor Farm Park Mtn. Bike Race.
L'Equipe de Cyclisme Baltimore County went out to the Tour of Tucker County to test out it's newly minted Cat 4 legs.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner (because they almost won twice) for the Scott Pro Mountain Bike Team.
Design Physics Racing enjoyed the Stagg Creek Shakedown and has some nice video footage of the essence of mountain biking.
They wrapped up the racing at Killington and now Celerity Cycling has wrapped up the blogging, which -- as we all know -- makes it official.

And, though it's not really a race report, Molly Hurford has an interesting perspective on the drive home from the Tour of Somerville:

One of the best parts of cycling is driving home the next day and passing team vans with bikes, knowing we were in the same race yesterday

— Molly Hurford (@mollyjhurford) May 29, 2012

I guess I think this is weird because one of the best parts of cycling to me is the stopping at WaWa or Sheets on the way home and stuffing my face with convenience store goodness. But, different strokes...

So that should wrap up this week's #racereport. But if you know of some more, send them to me or tweet about them and we'll do what we can.

Could'a, Should'a, Would'a: 5-29-12

2012-05-29T08:40:19-04:00

by Gus Grissom, Blog Bureau Boss

Here's how this weekend's racing could'a, should'a and would'a turned out if it hadn't'a turned out the way it did...

Some folks made the long journey up to the Killington Stage Race in Vermont:

For the Minuteman Road Club it was a great result and a free SRAM Red Shifter. That's good all around no matter the category.
They may be thought of as flatlanders, but the boys-to-men of Celerity Cycling documented the good, the bad and the ugly of a notable weekend. They tweet too, but that's for another day.

I'm guessing there'll be loads more to say about the Killington Stage Race once folks get home and get some sleep. But, for now, many others raced a little more locally:

Ian of DCMTB took the turns carefully, didn't get blood in his car and got paid all in one weekend at the Tour of Tucker County.
The pictures say a 1,000 words, but Dynamic Physical Therapy Cycling's words are "some days you are just glad to finish" in Tucker County.
The ladies of CAWES Cycling continue their winning and nick-naming ways at the Tour of Somerville. They give out hugs, not drugs.
Anthony Skorochad of Cycling Captured has some great photo galleries of the Tour of Somerville in case you missed out on Memorial Day Multimedia.

Now, I know it was a long weekend and most of you are still recovering from your fast or your not-so-fast (and hopefully not crashy) races. So get off the couch and get those race reports in!

If you know of other great race reports, send them to me or tweet your #racereport so I can read and revel in your fortune and glory.

Follow Friday: 05-25-12

2012-05-25T08:23:09-04:00

by Gus Grissom, Our Man Friday

This Friday it's a little less about following fantastic tweets and a little more about following up on some multimedia that needs following.

First off, if you want to experience ten minutes of riders turning right, you'll definitely want the Zen and the Art of Greenbelt as captured by Jesse Leifert, road guard videographer extraordinaire...

But if you want to see what Bike Jam / Kelly Cup looked like through the eyes of Julie Elliot, you'll want to check out this link for all the high-speed crashy action.
I would've thought there'd be more chatter about #killington, but really it's just about Ben Frederick's birthday. Happy Birthday, Ben! Enjoy the aging process as you try to go faster than the young'uns...

Off to #Killington for three days of racing! Happy Birthday to me!! Gonna represent @lsvcycling!

— Ben Frederick (@benjamfred) May 25, 2012

That's about it for the week but if you've got some #bikeracing thoughts or some #howtogetfast tips, just send them or tweet them so I can let everyone know how you roll!

GamJams Tech: Premes, Picks, Promos p/b November Bicycles — 5-24-12

2012-05-24T16:12:20-04:00

As a cyclist, the search for newer and better gear is constant — there's always something else out there. Premes, Picks, Promos will highlight both the next big thing and the sleeper deal.

I have a thing with socks. Actually, it's a few things. One is that, with the exception of a couple of pairs of dress socks, I don't own any non-cycling socks. And the last few times I've needed to wear black socks, I just wore black cycling socks anyway.

My other thing with socks is that I like them tall. Not this tall, but more like this — a 12 cm cuff. I have a few socks that are a little taller than that, but not many that are shorter.

And my final deal with socks is that I don't really like wearing them. I wear flip flops far too early when it gets warm and far too late when it gets cold. I wear them around the house in the winter. I look completely ridiculous because of that high sock line. But, thanks to the crazy world we live in, I fit in just fine.

So no, I don't wear socks much, but I'm picky about them when I do. By far the best socks I've come across over the past two seasons are made by Capo. The Strada has a 15 cm cuff and the Avante has a 12 cm cuff. Both are made with Olefin, a synthetic fiber that is lightweight, strong and durable.

I have three pairs of Capo's taller Olefin socks, and each has made it through a lot of miles showing minimal wear. I've been told by many that I should check out Swiftwick's Olefin offerings as well. So here we are.

I actually have a pair of tall Swiftwick socks — a pair of Performance Seven socks put out by Trek last season. They're very tall — too tall, really. Spend a lot of time in something that goes mid-calf and you'll look even more ridiculous than me.

Still, though, they're very good socks. So I grabbed a pair of the Performance Four socks and hit the road. The Four means four inches, as in cuff height. That comes out to 10.2 cm, which is slightly shorter than my favored Capo socks.

And that's my only complaint. I wish they were a little bit taller. A 5-inch cuff (just over 13cm) would be perfect. Swiftwick does make a 5-inch sock but only in argyle. I dig argyle, but not that much.

Otherwise, the Swiftwicks are not unlike the Capo Olefin models.(Acutally, they're remarkably similar in construction, which would normally lead me to believe that Swiftwick makes Capo's Olefin socks. However, Capo's socks are made in Italy, Swiftwick's are made in the US.)

The cuff, even if it was slightly shorter than I like, was lightly compressive and comfortable — and it didn't creep down as the miles piled up. Because it's double-layered, it makes sense to think that the cuff might get a little hot, but it isn't at all.

The lighter material on the foot of the socks works well with shoe vents to keep air moving. As with my very tall Swiftwicks, I wondered when I put on the Performance Four socks if the meshy bottom was going to hold up to my big hooves (I wear size 47 shoes). As with previous socks, it was no problem.

That's a testament to good materials and construction. Much like the Capo Olefin socks, I can see the Swiftwicks hanging around for a few seasons. At $13.99, they're a little on the spendy side. But I imagine they'll be a lot like Shimano shoes — you'll get tired of them before they actually wear out.

Speaking of that ...

I've been on Shimano road pedals since I started cycling, so I've burned through my share of SH-11 SPD-SL cleats. You know the ones — the black hunks of plastic with yellow rubber wear spots. That design hasn't changed since 2002. When I started riding, a new set of cleats ran $15 retail.

I headed to the shop last night to grab a new pair and saw the price had risen a bit, even from last season — the SH-11 cleats are now $33.99. For two chunks of molded plastic that haven't changed since 2002. Wow.

Shimano makes a lot of great stuff (I'm on board with shoes, pedals and wheels), but its also known for seemingly arbitrary 15% price raises across the board. In the case of these cleats, the price has more than doubled in the last seven years. I have a hard time believing that the manufacturing costs of molded plastic have risen that much. The molds are the same, the packaging has only slightly changed, yet these things are now $34?

Come on, Shimano.

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In addition to being GamJams Tech Editor, Bryan Redemske has managed the Trek Bicycle Store of Omaha, is a professional writer and a Cat 3 racer. He drinks a lot of coffee.

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November Bicycles. Race Smart.