sarals 

And then your first race of 2014 is in January, right? Long off season!

AzTallRider

Great job, Hermes, and looks like yo had a blast... but... your climbing wheels are alloy?

Allegheny Jet

Lookin pretty thin Hermes!

Allegheny Jet

Cleve's off season is Christmas to New Years Day.

Hermes

I have Race XXX carbon wheels but they have a different cassette so I would have to change the break pads and swap cassettes. Interestingly, the Williams System 19 are 1400 gram wheels and I think the Race XXX are 1350. If I do Mount Hamilton, I will use my carbon wheels.

Allegheny Jet

My first thought is why worry about brake pads for a climbing race. But then, coming back down puts significant stress on the rims.

Hermes

I use Swiss Stop yellow for my carbon wheels and a special "green" pad supplied by Williams for the System 19 wheels with "special" allow rims. The Swiss Stop pads work well with the allow rims but traditional pads seem to work better. Plus there is the "worry" about metal shards embedding in the brake pad from the alloy rims and then scratching the carbon braking surface. Heretofore, I raced what was on the bike.

Mount Hamilton is a different kind of climb featuring 16 miles of climbing mixed with 3 miles of descending (one mile and two mile descent). The climbing grade max is 7%. I will use the Race XXX lite wheels for that one.

Hermes

Thanks, One of your teammates participated in the climb from Cushman & Wakefield.

sarals 

Yes, that was Heidi. I'm looking forward to (trying to) work(ing) for her in the next season! She's a darned good rider.

Cleave

Hermes, sounds like a great low-key effort. Sounds like the whole series is great fun, discounting the race with the dirt sections.

I used to do the Patterson Pass Road Race in the 1980s. It was always over Labor Day weekend and I would stay with my sister who lived up there at the time. It looks like you rode up the side that we used to ride down. I (think I) remember some times it was so windy riding down that part of the road that you had to pedal.

I think you are both confusing participating with racing.

Dalai

You definitely want brakes to work on that climb!

I rode Mt Hamilton whilst in SF last September. I was riding for a time - on one of the two short descents, came into a tight blind right hander which had gravel on the apex... No way I was going to be able to get around, so had to straighten up and slam on the brakes. Luckily some motorists in California drive small cars; missed the rear quarter panel of the oncoming Honda Jazz by inches and only just pull up on the gravel verge opposite where it dropped off a steep hill! Haven't misjudged a corner that badly for more than a decade and naturally took the rest of this and all subsequent descents far more carefully!

Hermes

Most California climbs feature debris on the apex of some of the corners. It comes from cars cutting the corners and kicking out gravel. We have a lot of great descenders and sadly we see a lot of crashes due to carrying too much speed and hitting debris on the corners. The descent down Highway 84 toward Woodside is one of the worst since riders go really fast and there are a lot of cars with potential for debris. I descend amazing slow because I know the hazards are there and do not want the risk of crashing.

Contrasting NorCal descents to Mount Ventoux, Ventous offered wider roads with smoother pavement and great visibility. Higher speeds were okay on that descent.

Hermes

Santiago Canyon ITT in the books. 4th out of 5 in the 60+ 34:19 riding it Merckx. There was a snafu and my Garmin was in the wrong bag so I did not get any metrics on the ride. The UCI guys would have been ecstatic. Cleave competed as well and he an I rode back together. My wife flatted 3/4 of a mile from the finish and rolled in.

Cleave

Yeah, she rolled in with a flat and was only a bit slower than my time. @Hermes, 'competed' is such a strong word.

I wasn't DFL (4th out of 5 in 55+) and thanks to a tailwind I was able to make up some time on the downhill after being so slow going up the hill. I had my Garmin but I'm not sure that I want to see the metrics.

Hermes

Cleave, That is a great TT course although riding back after the TT seemed almost as hard as the race. I notice some wind in my face on the bike path section that changed to a cross / tailwind later. I have to get a TT bike for SoCal. Riding Merckx sucks. I will get one of those illegal Shivs that the tri guys ride.

Allegheny Jet

State cross champs was epic. Conditions were wet, muddy and below freezing. Equipment and support were important but brute strength was just as important. I ended up silver. The winner could ride away on the extremely muddy flats. I was close after the first lap but when we got onto a 1/4 mile flat and muddy section he left me in the poo. I got passed by two guys in my race on lap 3 but put them away on a technical section followed by two hills. Due to the wetness and mud the race had several long sections of "off the bike" that is not to my advantage. I'm beat up but need to accept that silver is ok, according to my wife.

revchuck 

Congrats, AJ!

Racer Ex 

Don't you ever clean your bike?

Good job!

AzTallRider

Wow... now that's a cleanup job. IMO, that silver is outstanding!

valygrl

Congrats, AJ!!

sarals 

AJ, you positively rock! Congratulations!!!

Allegheny Jet

Thanks gang! I feel lucky to do my first race of the cross season and have a pretty good result amongst the guys who have been racing cross since early Sept.

Tonight I'm drinking beers and eating chestnuts to celebrate the end of my 6th racing season.

Cleave

Very nice AJ! Somehow your photos are not enticing me to do psycho-cross though.

Hermes

Congrats A'Jet. Well done. I assume those are disposable bikes.

nacler22

Great racing AJ. Ya cleaned most everyone's clock, now it's time to clean yer damn bike.

Was the Spec. a pit bike?