topflightpro

Also, I have to agree with WR about being a dad making people faster.

My wife and I do not have kids, nor do we ever plan to have children. But, I have noticed that all of my friends who have children suddenly become super fast. One guy I know had a kid and then suddenly was upgraded to a 1, despite spending like 20 years as a 2. Another guy had a kid, then lapped the filed solo in his first race back. And another guy I know had a kid and started podiuming pretty much every race he did as a 5 and 4 - he podiums less frequently now that he is a 3.

waterrockets 

They might find more info when they look at it. They said it's most often associated with fast wheelspin ended by a sudden increase in traction, like coming off of ice onto dry pavement. I never spin my TSX -- maybe a mild chirp every couple months, but those front wheels are are always spinning close to the same speed, other than turning. It even started while my wife was driving it for a couple days -- no way she was racing.

I guess it motivated me to focus more.

gsteinb

DIMD



double-income more drugs

globecanvas

Everybody deals with life changes differently so it's hard to generalize, but in my case having kids really required me to organize my life in ways I hadn't needed to previously. Training efficiently is all about structure, so maybe it's the case that the kids => faster correlation is actually kids => life structure => training better => faster.

There's also some selection bias probably, in that nobody thinks about all the guys who had kids and quit racing.

big john

After 40+ years of working on cars, nothing surprises me when it breaks. Are you going to have someone take it apart to fix it or have you considered a used transmission?
When I tore up the transmission on my Blazer it was cheaper to buy a rebuilt unit than buy the parts and fix it myself. That rebuilt trans has 130,000+ miles on it now.

Creatre

My experience from friends with Honda's is the only thing that ever breaks is the transmission. That being said, the dealers also seem to **** with pricing of them. I would try to find someone to rebuild it locally, and it'll probably be signifcantly cheaper and more solid than any new tranny Honda/Acura puts in.

rkwaki

Having my little girl calmed me down a little bit. I have always been a little, well ok - a lot, haywire. Started when I was a kid and never grew out of it.
I was on the start line a few years ago and a guy on a pro domestic team was on the line beside me looked over at my stem, saw my little Hello Kitty figurine that is on every bike (pedal or motor) that I have and asked what the story was. I explained that it is a reminder of what I have at home and not to take unnecessary risks as she would be waiting for me.
I never realized the effects my princess would have on me. When she was about 12 months old or so I was playing in a competitive hockey league (if you think I am bad on the bike you should see me on the ice) and I had a guy pinned against the glass, gloves were off and I was about to pound the **** out of him, I looked over and there was my little princess being held up on the boards by my wife waving at me, I leaned into the guy and told him I was going to do it as I promised my wife no more fighting and skated away. That is a side of me I never want my kids to see. Now... come between me and my little princess... There is nobody who could help you...

Some of you may remember me getting into it with a guy at a crit in 2010, I saw red and lost it, it was knowing my princess was there with her team jersey and pom poms as well as the other kids around that got me out of that zone... The official said something about knowing better especially in front of kids and that took me out of the red zone...

Kids change perspective...

That being said it makes me mentally tougher as well, I think of all the sacrifices they/I/we have made for me to train and the last thing I am going to do is disappoint them or have them resent my training as time that could have been spent with them.

Yes, I am a complex idiot...

rkwaki

Anyone have a Cannondale Crank removal tool they want to loan me?
I'll cover shipping...

waterrockets 

Thanks guys. Yeah, I found the best local shop I could (based on a couple references and outstanding Yelp reviews). No dealer on this one.

grolby

Doing a full road and cyclocross season is indeed simply too much, at least if you are a normal human being and want to do well in both (I do know a couple guys who seem to manage this, but no idea how). I thought I was going to be flying coming into cross season this year, but after racing on the road since late March, not to mention a big move, I was wrecked and I'm actually really slow instead. I like cyclocross enough (and I'm good enough at it, I think, better than at road racing, anyway) that I will probably end my road season around early-mid June and take a big break before rebuilding for cyclocross and see how that goes. It's definitely going to be an experiment, not sure whether it'll work out or not. Cross has this reputation as being something you do just for fun in the fall and it doesn't matter if you're slow - well, see my rant about the PNW cyclocross scene. My opinion is that racing cross without fitness sucks a lot more than racing a crit without fitness. You can't hang on in the draft, the intensity of the constant accelerations and difficult course features like run ups and barriers destroys you, and being fast in the corners is cold comfort as you get passed over and over and over again on the straights by guys who can't ride their bikes. And there's nothing in the world worse than slowing to a walk as you go over the barriers and hopping awkwardly over them. Ugh.

merlinextraligh

That's what I found for me. 2 years ago, my road season was non existent.

Cross in the fall was a great way to get back going, and jump start the next year.

Last year after a full road season, I did one cx race, and knew I was done and bagged CX

topflightpro

I have one. Email me your address.

topflightpro

Oh, and I even traded away my cross bike earlier this year for a set of lightly used Reynolds 46 tubulars, some new tubulars and glue.

I figure that my wife is almost as tall as me. If I really want to do a cross race, I'll just raise the saddle on her bike and use that.

But from what I remember of cross, it was tougher than a crit or mtb race. Maybe I was just worn out from a full road season, but my HR was at the max the entire time, and my legs felt like crap. It quickly turned into an off-road TT with too many people in my way.

rkwaki

I U Big Boi...

rkwaki

That would be awesome in some 'situtations'...
Mine is not much shorter than I am either (I'm 5'10.5" and she is a little over 5'8")
There is a behemoth in my office that is about 6'3"... yowzaaaaaaaaa

ridethecliche

I got dropped on the way to work today.

As a side note, riding a bike with dress shoes is fun. It makes funny markings on the leather soles.

This means nothing.

I think this is easier for someone with higher VO2MAX power since races come down to a drag race more often in those cats.

The head of the ortho surgery unit is a freaking giant. I swear he's almost 7 ft tall. He bends under the door frames.

rkwaki

Would make getting a promotion easier on the knees...

Ygduf

Some people like cross? Some like MTB? Some like road all year round?!

****, must we all have different personalities?!

Ygduf

I rode to work with no bandages today, pretty swanky stuff, that tegaderm. From hackenfleisch to just fleisch in 4 days.

merlinextraligh

Riding home this afternoon from a conference on Amelia Island. Not bad for a work day.

Fat Boy

Cyclocross for me is a timing and social thing. I travel with work in the spring/summer. I'm gone on many weekends and I have trouble putting together consistent training blocks. It makes racing during the standard road season fairly difficult for me. I can get out from time to time, and sometimes have reasonable weekends, but it's really tough for me to put together a proper season.

The fall season for me is fairly open. I can put together a race season and hit a lot of races, so CX makes sense.

I also have 3 kids. That means I have/want to spend weekends with them. This season, I can take my two girls with me and they're going to compete in the kids classes.

My club/team is also fairly active in cross. We have probably 10 guys that are racers and a relationship with a local university that adds another 1/2 dozen. It's a cool social event.

Racer Ex 

"Symptoms such as memory loss and depression may persist for as long as a year after a chronic user stops taking PCP".

Dolamite02

Whats a PCad?

mattm

Here's what I hate about cross (I'm sure you're all dying to know!): you don't get pulled. This doesn't mean nobody should do it, it's just why I won't touch it and don't respect it.

Out of shape/in over your head and your family is going to watch you race a crit? They'll see you get pulled. You'll be embarrassed. As it should be!

Out of shape/in over your head and your family is going to watch you race cx? They'll cheer for you each time you come by, not really knowing if your first or last. They'll congratulate your effort, as will all the fans handing you beer from the beer garden. It's all fine and dandy, it just doesn't really seem like racing to me.

I want racing to be embarrassing when you suck at it. Not "everyone gets a medal" type of thing. Flame on.

caloso

I like cross. It gave me an excuse to buy a dirt- and gravel-capable bike without having to buy a MTB. And I'm looking forward to getting my son into racing in a fun low-key environment.

as for not getting pulled, you still know you suck when you finish two laps down. And they don't give you a medal, maybe just a lovely beverage.