Yes, that's gravel, and no that's not a gravel bike, but don't worry because I walked it.
What, do you think I'm crazy or something?
By the way, for those of you wondering what's going on with the Tresca, here's an update:
For those of you who are sick of hearing about it, here's one of the worst cover songs ever recorded.
Even the original song is pretty dumb, so it's kind of impressive they managed to limbo under such a low bar.
And yet after linking to it I listened to the entire song, go figure.
Right, so after my lukewarm post-race notes on the Tresca the other day I figured they'd want their bike back. On the contrary. Not only did they tell me I could keep experimenting with it, but they also said they're working on a 56 (that's my size) and are planning to offer a wider range of sizes overall. Furthermore, they said they'd send a 56 when it's ready (probably in the spring sometime when the races are starting up again), and words like "Dura Ace" and "crabon" wheels and parts were also bandied about, though they did spell crabon "carbon," which I'm assuming is the British spelling.
All of this is to say honesty is the best policy, because now I get more toys to play with. I'm not sure how or why I've wound up as Tresca's test pilot, but it's not like I have anything better to do, so I'm not complaining.
They probably shouldn't listen to me though because if they do they're just going to wind up selling 20 year-old Litespeeds.
24 comments:
Podium? Regardless I was bummed to lose your radio now. New York centric as it was, it made me think about riding in my own neighborhoods and the big city to my north (Charlotte, NC) and how it could generally be improved before we get to where New York has gotten. Also good to hear you will have enough bieks to play with for the forseeable future.
I, for one, appreciate your honest reviews. I find them more believable than the fawning reviews in magazines like Bicycling, and your reviews have reduced my episodes of Fred outbreaks.
Podium?
I am baffled, like a boffin.
While zooming in to check if your hideous sentence "because I walked it." was hiding in plain sight a "I had a flat and I carry no spare", I discovered you peddle your exotic frame without having exotic titanium valve caps. Rear. And front, too.
How can it be? are you absolutely crazy? or just relatively?
"What, do you think I'm crazy or something?"
Absolutely.
I'm a bit concerned that Tresca are talking about making carbon fiber (or "fibre") bikes. Their namesake yield criterion only applies to metallic materials, and "Tsai-Wu" or "interlaminar shear stress" are not nearly as catchy.
Some guy from upstate,
Sorry, I meant crabon *parts*, it would still be an aluminum frame. I have fixed.
--Tan Tenovo
Will the Tresca with crabon wheels have dick breaks? I thought rim breaks suck on crabon wheels. What helment is best paired with crabon wheels and dick breaks?
HDEB,
I think they're planning to offer a bike with dick breaks eventually. (Though the current bikes aren't even available yet so...) The only crabon wheels I've spent any real time on were the ones on the Renovo. Once the pads wore in the braking was good. I never really rode that bike in the rain but every so often I'd get stuck in a shower and I got the sense that wet conditions might have been a problem--but again I never really subjected them to those conditions.
At least in dry conditions I think they've got crabon rim braking figured out...though yes, obviously everything's going disc, at least for the types of bikes you'd want to ride with crabon wheels.
--Tan Tenovo
What pressure do you run on your acorn specific tires?
Pedals are metal; peddles are plastic.
I rode a bike exactly like your ti steed today, except that it was steel, made by a different small US builder, and only has nine pointy disks in the back, not ten. Other than those tiny details, it's your two-wheeler's twin. I took advantage of the sweet weather and peak foliage to extend my ride home by 20 miles, a detour that involved a portage through a bridge reconstruction zone and the dirty beauty of Rollin Irish Rd. (its real name, a shortening of 'rolling') I rode about 13 miles of gravel on my 23mm tires, much of it recently graded and, surprise, surprise, I didn't die.
I am missing the radio show--last Monday I was going to try to call in!--but consoled that Arthur Schwartz went down with the ship, too.
"...I've wound up as Tresca's test pilot..."
That, or a crash test dummy. Now there's an unsettling thought.
You gotta go back to that music link and play it at x1.25. Suddenly it's OK.
That sounds like rock and/or roll.
That there's some finely curated gravel. And you had to walk across it using road cleats. It's amazing you were even able to finish the ride without proper footwear paired to a properly outfitted gravel bike colorway. And jeez, without disk brakes you were running a risk of not being able to stop as you approached the gravel. Mad skills!
I followed your advice on Friday and went to ride my bike. Ended up doing 200 miles in 3 days. Met some good people, ate good food and drank good beer. Overall great time. Thanks for the advice.
Dear Mr. Swiss choccocheese @ 4:20 PM -
My steel frame Milwaukee sports titanium valve caps (front and rear) because they were a gift and it cracks me up when I think about them.
My dog informs me, however, I'm not a good barometer for relative sanity.
This is my first day back at the orifice (office) in three weeks. Took a 4,000+, mile road trip with my wife and children in a rented Dodge Grand Caravan. We camped and hiked at Palo Duro Canyon, Santa Fe National Forest, Mesa Verde National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. We also spent time in Monument Valley and visited Four Corners for the obligatory, contrived photo ops. Overall, it was a great experience and we generally did not get on each other's nerves. Also, none of us are in jeopardy of suffering from Nature-Deficit Disorder.
Things I missed while we were away:
-My bikes
-Riding my bikes
-This blog (yes, it's true, I found myself wondering what was going on here, but I generally had no wifi or cellular data, or was too busy to check)
My Garmin Fenix says my current fitness status is "Deconditioning", but my 10 year old son and I managed to take 10th place overall on a Strava segment while hiking out of the Grand Canyon. "Arizona 67 Climb"
Now back to work
@chazu 5:09
Deconditioning? I've been curating that fitnessway the past four months, ever since I injured my back at work.
Today was a good day though. My daughter's future father-in-law gave his son a bike to help him get in shape. I was stoked, until I saw the actual "bike". A 29er with WAL*MART's finest boinger fork, and Josh blew right past Clydesdale about 150 pounds back. Hell no, he ain't riding that, and I got more bikes than I'll ever be able to ride, even without a hurt back.
So I loaded my 93 Fisher HooKoo into the van and took it over. Cripes, when I pulled it out of the van you'd have thought it was Christmas morning. He climbed on and proceeded to ride across the parking lot with the biggest ear-to-ear grin you ever saw in your entire life. I believe he is now one of us. Sweet.
Told him before we headed home that as soon as the doctors give me the go-ahead, we gots to head out to Patapsco state park and hit the Avalon trails. But here's the best part. I can bond with my son-in-law and I don't have to bait one single fish hook. Sometimes it truly does not suck to be alive.
From Westchester Cycle Club:
"Friday Oct. 18, the New York City Parks Department will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for a project involving the paving of the trailway in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx that has been a major missing link in traveling by bike or foot from Westchester to New York City. The paving of the 2.5-mile Putnam Trailway will mean it will be possible to travel almost entirely on dedicated, paved bike paths from Westchester to Manhattan. The only missing piece will be from the southbound end of Van Cortlandt Park, getting through the Bronx to the Greenway on Manhattan’s east side. Our ride leader Deb Ramsey has posted a ride starting in Pleasantville at 9 am Oct. 18 on the North County Trailway, connecting to the South County Trailway, and then straight to the groundbreaking ceremony. It’s posted as a C level but we’ll try to accommodate everyone.
-NYCHighwheeler
Unknown,
Thanks! Hadn't seen mention of the groundbreaking anywhere. The "only missing piece" from Van Cortlandt to Manhattan is a rather significant one...Broadway Bridge and environs is a pretty hectic stretch.
--Tan Tenovo
Iron Butterfly's version is better - I remember a DJ at a bar many years ago insisting on playing the whole extended live version - presumably so he could go take a smoke break
Slayer sounds like a video game soundtrack
Finally able to ride a little in my recovery - just in time for it to get dark and cold and dark and dark
GIBB RISH
You know how you can tell that you are really getting old?
I was racing when Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter were racing.
Now not only are they retired, their KID is now retired.
I wonder if I'll still be around when Tyler's as-of-yet unborn son, Finn Phinney, retires.
Suddenly this post is relevant again a week later.
in re: the 'missing piece' of trailway, I've taken to using Nagle ave. to the University hgts. bridge @207th st. then up the hill to Sedgewick/Bailey ave. (which generally is lightly trafficked) which dumps you off across from the VCP entrance at the driveway to the gopher course parking lot. Reversing that, when on Nagle if you make a left on Dyckman it leads you right to the eastside greenway.
Of course, the 207th st. bridge transit is 'hairy', more so than the Broadway bridge itself typically is, mostly owing to the Deegan ramps on the Bronx side. On the upside it's only a short section of the trip, most of which is a lot better than dealing with the overhead subway tracks (and pillars) and ultra-thick commercial traffic most of the length of Broadway.
My $.02
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