CX? Already? Really?

New bikes awaiting a build

It seems like summer just started and more over, that I just finished racing cyclocross and yet we are already starting to think about it in earnest. More than think actually, we are planning for it. The team CX bikes, Cannondale SuperX disc, have already arrived and I built two of them up already this week. Mine and Cathy's are still sitting in the box though, waiting for me to get to them.

I also got a stack of new Clement PDX tubular tires that will need to be glued up and installed on the new bikes, once the bikes are built up of course. This also means that I need to call Big Al and order a couple more sets of the Carver c38 carbon disc tubular CX wheels. Those are the same wheels that Cathy and I rode all last season with great results. Hard if not impossible to beat, especially for the money.

Four tires worth their weight in gold

Yes, the money is flowing all right. Those four tires retail for more than the tires we bought recently for the van. The new bikes are probably worth more than the van. Nobody ever said that racing bikes was easy, or cheap. This stuff is killing me and is going to force me to go get a job or something radical like that. That said, if I didn't have to have the best of everything it would be less of an issue so nobody else to blame. All good fun though.

On the flip side, I've started piecing together a CX and gravel road bike for a teammate from used parts and a new frame/fork I purchased for short money. It's not the SuperX by any stretch but will have disc brakes and will fit him. I've been pestering friends for used parts to mate with those I'm missing. Seems I'm always doing that in fact, be it for junior team bikes back when we ran the NEBC junior program or for things like this. I just really enjoy building something up from nothing, basically, and also love being the cycling enabler. It isn't about spending lots of money it is about allowing others to experience and hopefully share a passion. I'm sure that my friends are getting sick of hearing from me though. I know that I have pretty much wiped out my stash of useful parts, though I do still have a whole lot of odd sized stuff I'd be happy to trade. 32.4mm carbon posts, full carbon road forks, TT aero and base bars and the like. Also have a complete TT bike just hanging in the basement, looking for a new home.

Alloy frame, carbon fork, discs, SRAM mongrel

Even though Chris and the shop as well as Cannondale for that matter, treats our team really, really well, my teammate is one of those people that thinks of his family before himself and recognized that his kids were next in line for bikes once it was feasible. Damn those selfless people who don't blindly overspend. How are they ever going to fix the ailing economy? Good thing we have so many who realize that money grows on trees and they really are entitled to that new flat screen TV, Euro sports car and McMansion in the burbs. Where would we be without them after all? Hampster in the wheel.

Cathy on the dirt in the NEK last week

We actually have been riding the CX bikes quite a bit recently. I swapped the tubular wheelsets out for the seldom used stock Stans Alpha 340 disc, which after I replaced the rear bearing are working fine. On these we have mounted up some Clement LAS file treads. We have found that the setup makes for an absolutely excellent dirt road bike. Great braking, very lightweight and stiff yet comfortable. The stock gearing is also working out really well for some of the longer climbs and overall, we are just enjoying the heck out of the bikes. It is great to actually get some use out of the bikes beyond cyclocross racing alone.

It won't be long now, it never is. The season always sneaks up on us. This year the first local event is August 24th. That seems an eternity away but in truth, not so much. Plenty of time to switch gears from a training perspective, take some time off and just do some fun rides, which is all I do anyhow, get the gear prepped and ready.

Sure, plenty of time.