Recent Goings On, And Some New Gear

So I feel the need to drop in an update. I’m nine days into the Great Cycling Challenge, and I’m currently a few km behind my scheduled target. I should be on at least 450km by the end of today. With today’s evening ride to go, I’m on about 390km. There’s a reason for this slight lag in the curve.

On Friday night just past, the fourth day of the challenge month, I came something of a cropper.

Heading through Callan Park in Rozelle, Sydney, I overcooked a bumpy corner, ended up in an oblique collision with a big curb and, naturally, stacked it, hard. Luckily, the landing was grassy, but I didn’t come out of it unscathed by any means.

I was aboard my Trek Domane 4.5, which was largely in an off-the-peg configuration. Checking the bike itself over, I couldn’t find any dings to the frame. The cockpit was intact (though the brake levers were covered in dirt and grass). The main damage was the wheels. Both wheels had their braking surfaces scored by the contact with the curb, and my left crank arm had a chunk taken out of it. My sunglasses, which had been in my helmet vents, were completely smashed, and the cradle system of the helmet was torn out of its mountings.

Physically, I felt OK, but I knew once I got home and off the bike, I’d be sore. So I popped the mountings back into the helmet and limped home to take stock.

On arriving home, a more thorough check revealed zero frame damage, thankfully. The chunk out of the crank arm was a little bigger than expected, but non critical. But the wheels… oh the wheels.

The left-hand braking surfaces were essentially destroyed, and the spokes on the same side were very badly damaged and would have to be thrown away. On top of that, the front QR lever was also pretty much wrecked, and checking over the helmet showed a huge crack through the rear of the helmet and some big scuffs on the shell. As for me, I’d wrenched my left shoulder, scuffed myself up a bit and probably got a mild concussion into the bargain.

But it could have been worse.

So the shopping list was now: New helmet. New eyewear. Wheel rebuild and new QRs or a complete new wheelset.

Luckily, my CFO is very understanding, and keeps an emergency fund for the inevitable breakages that happen in the life of an active rider. The credit card was cracked out and soon I’d ordered a new set of eyewear and a new set of  wheels, knowing that a rebuild might take a while and with the idea that the rebuilt wheels can be kept as spares.

I then went to the beer shop, and drowned my sorrows for the rest of the night. I was in that kind of mood.

I stayed mostly off the bikes for the next couple of days, but got in a trainer session on Sunday to gauge how much I was hurting. Then on Tuesday I rode the 29er to work and went helmet shopping. Shortly afterwards my new wheels arrived.

As ever, Cell Bikes, your speed of delivery rocks. First working day after ordering. Cannot do better.

So I left my 29er at the office and went home on the train, to fit my new goodies.

The wheelset, a pair of Zipp 30s, was a revelation. Noticeably lighter than the stock Bontrager Race wheelset, they came fully taped and with a very nice pair of skewers in the box, and a new butyl inner tube per wheel. They’re 11-speed compatible but ship with a spacer for my 10-speed configuration, and fitting was painless. My original tyres mounted up quickly, seated well in the clincher rims and I was ready to go in less than 40 minutes, including time taken hunting down my cassette tools.

For the stackhat, I’d tried on a whole range of road-specific helmets from Specialized, Bontrager, Kask, Giro and others. The broken one had been a Bell Sweep, which was light, comfortable and close-fitting and nothing I tried quite felt as good – except, that is, for the Kask Mojito.

My budget had been ‘top of the line’ – so around the AU$300 mark – but the Mojito sits a little lower down in the range at AU$239. But once I tried it out and got the cradle system seated properly, I was sold. Only one other helmet had had a comparable fit for my head shape – and that was the S-Works Prevail. But I’d rejected that based on the fact it sat way too high on my head, even with the height adjustment feature. But the Mojito: perfect.

And it was available in black and white, to match my bikes. Wanker Factor: fulfilled. Sold.

The last item was a pair of JetBlack Turbulence VX glasses. The primary reason behind that choice? Interchangeable lenses at an affordable price. $50 for smoke, amber and clear lenses. I’d been wanting some clear lenses for a while because I train a lot at night. I’d also wanted to try out amber for the kind of low-contrast conditions I get when racing mountain bikes.

The verdicts?

The wheels felt nimble straight out of the door. I went out for a quick installation roll which quickly turned into a 50-odd kilometre hit-out including a helping of personal bests on a variety of segment types (short pinchy climbs, longer punch climbs, flat sprints, downhill smashes and a fun variation on cornering styles). There was noticeable extra stiffness, which added confidence in bends, and they really felt more efficient then the wheels they replaced. The old wheels would flex slightly under hard acceleration, moving the sensor magnet away from the Duotrap and resulting in dodgy speed readings. I could not get that to happen on this ride, though to be rigorous, there may be differences in the sensor gap between the two wheelsets that contribute to that – so this may be a poor benchmark. The feel, though, was beautifully stiff and responsive.

Summary: I’m completely sold on the aero wheel concept – and if aluminium 30s feel this much better than a stock wheelset, I have to wonder how a set of carbon Firecrest 404s would feel in comparison.

The helmet did exactly what a helmet should do. It was completely unnoticeable. Light, comfortable and sleek. The only worry was that I couldn’t get my eyewear into the vents easily, though there’s usually a trick to the best way to do that and if doesn’t worry me too much.

As for the sunglasses? Having decent eyewear on at night is great. No more streaming eyes as you belt down a descent. No more insect-in-the-eye moments. The JetBlacks are vented enough that they won’t mist when going uphill – important since I’ve been known to get a kind of claustrophobia when climbing behind misting sunglasses – but also snug-fitting enough that there’s very little airflow creeping round them. And the amber lens was great in the low contrast dusk early on the ride For the price, ideal. Maybe the frames are a bit high-profile, but hey, we live in an age of ridiculous eyewear, apparently. So that’s really not a problem.

Every cloud has a silver lining, they say. Well, Friday night’s stack certainly did. The bike is now significantly nicer to ride, and my comfort on it is enhanced.

But maybe in future I’ll try to do my upgrades without having a couple of days of pain to accompany them.