Any cyclists here?

sherpa, i do agree, and it seems like you and i ride about the same, i think rob28gts is also a rider, or was. we should all go to italy, visit the factory and ride the area, it is a killer ride!

true the only great frame is a custom frame, my kestrel is a custom, and my cf3 was milled a bit in the head for me. i never liked the treks myself, but to a casual rider, a composite frame will be soft and more forgiving. if you are serious and want to race, well... then get out your amx black and don't ask how much mr lemond's custom frame will set ya back.

 

a note on my lame ass story:

i grew up in huntington ny, one town over from george hincapie at the same time. in 1991 i ditched my high school graduation to board a plane to france to train. we were riding that year's tour de france route three days after the actual race looking to catch the eyes of trainers and scouts. I rode in stage 8-9 and on a second decent from the alp d'huez, i went around a corner and got run over by a chase motorcycle. it thrashed my left knee because i was still clipped in to my time pedals and the frame helped to seperate my left knee. i got a visit from laurent fignon in the hospital on a travel day, and an autograph from claudio chiapucci (chia-pet) thus my career ended and i did not get back in the saddle until 1998 when BCBG's designer/owner Max bought me the Kestrel I ride mainly today. I got it after our spring 99 runway show and rode it to work (40 miles each way) every day for three months.

I still have a neat scar on my left knee, but now i ride to relive what i almost had. I used to ride with rashid bahti and fred rodriguez here in la, and twice with floyd landis when i went to sd to visit my girlie. i still visit my first trainer greg miller at sandpiper bike in seal beach, he rode the tour a bunch of times and is a mechanic for mavic during thre tour. he also did the gossemer condor, the man powered pedal plane if you remember that. in my high school there was also jeannie eichoff, and carlf foden, two terrific riders in their own right.

 

Great posts, everyone. Some great information being exchanged.
Ryan, you should have a PM.

Paul

 

Well, I would go to Italy and do that. It would be great. Two of my old team mates live around there and I'm sure they would let us stay with them.

Why did you do a ride to get picked up by a pro team? Were any of those team directors even around? The only way to get picked up is to win races and get UCI points. The team directors can't tell who's fast or not fast unless you're beating their guys. Badly. I raced some indoor madisons in Europe with Francais de Jeux and it was only because I beat their guy to the podium in the European points race championship in Ghent, Belgium in front of his home crowd. I was training with the Belgian team for weeks and it was noticeable that I was the best points race guy next to Gilmore, DeWilde, and LaPage but none of the team directors cared. Only when I crushed their guys in actual competition did they pay attention. It's only when you beat the best guys again and again do they even start talking to you about racing for them.

What kind of Kestrel do you have? I did testing on their frames and they are unable to make any in custom measurements. They are made in a monocoque mold in three pieces and put together. The cost of the molds prohibits them from making custom sized frames. A custom Kestrel would be a fun ride.

That's cool that you know Greg Miller. I don't believe that Greg ever rode the tour, though. He was a Tour mechanic for Mavic. My old coach, Roger Young, lives in CdM and knows Greg and IIRC that's what he told me about Greg.

I could be wrong, though but last week, I had an event with some of the old guys (Greg Lemond, Ron Kiefel, Andy Hampsten, etc) and Greg Miller's name came up and they didn't mention that he rode the Tour.

BTW, you are superstar. If you put in 21,000 miles a year and work full time, you are a superstar in my mind. Even on medium 800 mile weeks I was too tired to even cook food for dinner, let alone have a job that paid well enough to own a Ferrari. It's only now that I work all the time and ride 50 miles a week (I'm working on it, okay?) that I can make more than $40k a year.

BTW, when I see Janie next I'll tell her you said hello.

 

Okay, a little clarification. I called Andy, Ron, and Jonathan Vaughters and I was told for sure that Greg Miller never rode the Tour. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't saying the wrong thing.

 

Bobafett - call me. I have some news for you.

Sarc - you have PM.


LADFUN - a cyclocross bike would be perfect for you. You can get good used ones for around $500 or so. Keep the good road bike in LA.

 

I take turns riding 3 bikes: A Merlin Extralight with Campy Record, a dual suspension Specialized Mountain Bike and an Optima Baron Low Racer with Dura Ace. The latter is by far the fastest (I can dust any roadie on the flats or downhill), the most comfortable, and the most fun. I do laps in the low racer when Prospect Park is closed down to cars. The Merlin is a beautiful bike, but it is still no contest.
See: http://www.promocycle.bizland.com//baron.htm

 

I do not even know what a cyclocross is, but I will look into it tonight. ANy recommendations for used places?

 

Try craig's list. NorCal is a hot spot for cyclocross so there will be tons of the bikes available in your area.

 

Thank you for the heads up, I will definitely check it out!

 

As an old, retired bike racer, I've enjoyed reading the posts. You're dropping some names of some old-time heros, especially Ron Kiefel. It always amazed me how long a lead out he could give Davis Phinney. Back in the mid 80's there was a flat, four corners, criterium series sponsored by Nabisco Wheat Thins which I participated in along with the 7-11 team. I tried on several occasions to hold that wheel, but with little success!

To those looking for bikes, the comments so far are right on. My only addition to those new to cycling is to shop at a real bike shop that can show you how to set up your bike for your body. The internet has great prices, but only if you know what you need. For instance, you can buy a stem from 6 cm to 14 cm. Do you know what size you need? The bike shop does. As Ryan said, the right bike is the one that fits.

 

Ctanner,
I didn't know anything about cycling until I was in college and I started but I soon developed a healthy respect for history. We owe so much to those guys for paving the way for guys like me to get rides in Europe.

Davis is my all time hero. I tell him that every time I see him. I'm sure he's tired of hearing it by now but it's true.

They are all total class acts and I know that we all owe a ton to them. Andy called me last year to borrow one of my bikes. I did not hesitate. I lent him my back up bike for several months. Greg and I get to talk cars when we see each other. Ron used to host a Pro Night for charity where all the old pros and many of us newer pros would get together and give talks and then sign autographs. I always made time to participate. They are all total class acts and great guys to hang out with.

Jonathan and I live near each other so we were regular training partners. Many of the miles that we logged together were consumed with talk of the older heros of cycling.

Roger Young had a special influence on me. Out of all the older guys, Roger is the one that inspired me the most. When I was finishing business school, I called Rog and said that I wanted him to coach me and I was ready to move out to Orange County if he would have me. He agreed and I spent several years logging in ridiculous amounts of miles and doing crazy workouts. Hearing his stories and learning so much from him was instrumental.

My first evelation of how good he is was in 2000. I finished business school 3 weeks before the Olympic Trials, which is by invitation only (you must a be a cat 1 with a certain standing). I was only training with Roger for 3 weeks when I went. We both knew that the lack or training due to grad school was going to show but we did what we could in the weeks prior. The goal was just to qualify for the finals of the points race and finish it. I got second in my heat (out of 35) and in the final, I was in a three man breakaway with the eventual winner and third place finisher about to lap the field when my front wheel broke. It caused mayhem and I almost crashed us all. Somehow I held it up despite almost hitting the boards and was able to make it down and get a wheel change. I made up some ground and finally finished 12 out of the 25 finalists. Many people thought that would have gotten second. anywas, that's when I knew that Roger really knew what he was doing.

Without the older guys doing what they did, I never would have been able to do what I did. They are really special guys.

 

Thanks again, everyone, for the helpful advice, and inspiring stories.

Regards,
Paul

 

This was a fascinating thread to read. I guess I'm either a strong weekend warrior or a middling serious cyclist, depending on your point of view. I mostly consider myself a mountain biker but I know that even Cat 3 guys can stomp me flat. I can sort-of ride with Expert mountain bike racers. I ride a 24 mile roundtrip commute twice a week (3-4 as the weather improves) and mountain bike on the weekends.

Anyway, I have two bikes: a 9 year old Merlin Titanium with XT components and a 5 year old Gunnar Crosshairs with some XT stuff and mid-line Shimano road bits (I have no idea which ones!). I may add my brother's (he's a Cat 3 roadie) old Cannondale Saeco something-or-another into the mix since he just got a new colnago.

Point of my rambling being: just get a decent bike that fits and ride the thing. Ride, ride, ride. Smile to yourself as you crush the tools on $5000 toys. Spend your money on cars.

 

Your point is well taken but keep in mind that if it weren't for all of those "tools on $5000 toys," guys like me would not have been given free bikes. The reason that pros get paid to use certain equipment is because recreational riders are going to want that stuff, too.

Whenever I passed that 250 lb. guy with the full Postal Service outfit on the Merlin with full Campy Record, I always smiled because if that guy's using that stuff, then I was doing my job.

I have a PARLEE XL with around 25,000 miles on it. It looks brand new. Bob Parlee takes it to Interbike in Las Vegas and shows it off. No one can believe the miles it has when he shows them the odometer on the SRM. They love it. Are all of the people who buy his bikes going to put 25,000 miles on them in a little over a year? No, but they love knowing that they can and that's why they buy that stuff.

There's a saying that goes, " don't bite the hand that feeds you," and even though I make my money now in other avenues, I will never get down on a recreational rider having the best gear.

 

Test Shoot, which pro team did you sign with? Maybe we did some of the same races. I am also curious as to who signed you without any UCI points because that takes some serious pelotas on the team director's part. You must really have impressed them with just a ride. It must have been awesome. I would love to hear more.

EDIT: I just reread your post and it says that it was in 1991. I was not cycling then so I guess we wouldn't have raced at the same time in Europe but I would like to hear more about it. It sounds pretty interesting.

 

Dan - PM on the way.

 

if you are a car or a motorcycle guy...be carefull as you may get sucked into the cycling thing too. a great bike is a work of art...don't start looking at pinarello, derosa, or carrera bikes as you will be 10 k in the whole in a hurry!

sherpa, what is your name? i am an ex cat 2 but alot of my friends raced w/ frank socia and shaklee and la sheriffs. i almost raced w/ george's brother rich's team but could not get healthy after beng hit by a car.

nice to see you are a ferrari and duke guy now!!!

peter

 

If you know Jonas Carney, Jame Carney, Colby Pearce (all of those guys used to race for Frank), they all know me pretty well. Frank should at least know my name but we've only spoken a few times.

My name and stuff hsould be in my profile.

EDIT: You might be able to Google our names and see if we ever did any of the same races. In SoCal PRO,1,2 is the normal grouping so it's very possible that we may have.

 

sorry ryan. good to meet you and again gladto know many of us really do have so many things in common. jamie, jonas, and g-man...that was a great team. jim o'brien is also my good friend (tech director for frank for all those years). a bit sad that shaklee shut it down...seems like it has not been the same since.

 

ryan, i have an 888 corsa and a buddy of mine has two of the ex v&h 996sr
team bikes.

knee draggin is still best!

 

G-man!!! That guys a fricking nut!! He's awesome. I did a bunch of races with him on Friday nights in T-town on the track and he was always awesome. I remember that we did Tour of West Virginia one year and Gaggioli crashed him on the last corner and I thought for sure I was going to see him thump Gag after the race. HE WAS SO PISSED!!! He was pulling his pins out of his back (ouch!) and gritting his teeth.

I also remember doing the Madison Cup in T- town and he and Jame were having it out with one another on the track. I don't know where the bad blood came from but they were trying to take each other out in middle of all of our exchanges. I can't believe that none of us went down. That was when I really knew that Graeme was crazy. I always liked him, though.

 

Knee dragging is a new thing for me but I really like it. It's awesome.