Product Review: Mad Alchemy Embrocations PRO Chamois Creme--Thumbs Up.

As you may have gathered, I am a big advocate for chamois creme. I get by in cross season without it since the races are so short, But during road season , when saddle time usually exceeds 2 hours, and once or twice a week reaching 5-6 hours, a layer of undercarriage lubricant is essential to keeping everything running smoothly. If you have ever had a saddle sore, you know how important it is to avoid them.

I was lucky enough to be one of the first purchasers of Mad Alchemy Embrocations PRO Chamois Creme (MAEPCC). I have tested it on three rides, one long (4+ hours), one short and intense ride with lots of sweating and a 2 hour mountain bike ride.


The short review: Good chamois creme, you should try it.


In Depth Review:

When you open the lid of MAEPCC you will find yourself trying to place the smell. It is vaguely citrusy and grassy, not medicinal. When you check the ingredients list you will find a number of essential oils, which will describe the complex aroma.

The texture is greasier and smoother than most other chamois creme, like a white gel, as opposed to a confection or frosting.




MAEPCC is not as thick as other cremes. It has the consistancy of a thick lotion, which made me initially skeptical of its efficacy on a long ride.

No tingle upon application, just a cooling sensation on the underside. While I have grown accustomed to Yash's "100 tiny angels licking my ass", I have found that this is not an essential feature of chamois creme.

The chamois creme stays in place. I have found that MAEPCC offers plenty of protection over a long ride. When using MAEPCC, I didn't think about my saddle, my riding position or my grundle. At the end of my rides, I took one for the team and checked my chamois for residue (sorry Cort, I had to check) and sure enough, there was the characteristic greasy streak proving that the chamois creme was still present and protecting my goods.

On the MAE website, Pete Smith offers that "The best cycling gear is the gear you never notice" and I have to agree with him. While MAE Warming Embrocations announce their power immediately by burning and continuing to burn, MAEPCC is a subtle product that does its job silently, but no less effectively.



I must admit, that I have been on the fence between MAEPCC and Assos Chamois Creme. I have been switching back and forth between the two. In a demented moment, I considered mixing the two. In the end, I decided that they are both great chamois cremes, but I will be using Mad Alchemy after I run out the ACC.

Mad Alchemy uses natural ingredients and is made locally by a real human, a good guy in fact. These three features are usually enough to sway me, as I am a huge advocate for buying local and personally knowing your suppliers.

Next time you are buying chamois creme, I encourage you to try the local stuff, you won't be disappointed.

Once I get a little more money in the coffers, I am looking forward to trying MAE's
PURE Chamois Grease and Skin Protectant.

Buy Here

Rolled Tubular at World Track Championships--Who's the Hack?

As an amendment to this post, Dave was kind enough post a link to video of the crash. As you can see, the tire popped off when Kevin Sireau lost control of his bicycle. I still maintain that the glue job was garbage, watch how easily the tire broke free:




I guess that I have to ask: would Sireau have been able to recover and avoid the crash if his tire hadn't rolled, or was he a goner by the time the tire came off?







Sometimes tubular tires roll. A weak joint is able to work itself loose and then the rider hits a hard bump while the weak spot is gripping the pavement, usually while cornering. The result is that the tire breaks free. When the glue job is good, most of the tire will remain adhered to the rim, though the rider still crashs. Even in cyclocross, where lower tire pressures make the glue job that much more important most of the basetape remains attached.



These photos are remarkable for a number of reasons. Firstly, notice that the tire is completely off of the rim, even before the rider hit the deck, as if it was not glued at all. Secondly, notice that the other rider remains upright even after being bumped pretty hard at the end of a sprint. Thirdly, in the last photo, notice that there is no evidence of glue on any part of the offending rim.


My question is: who the hell glued these and shouldn't they be sanctioned for negligence? If a cat 4 rolls a tubular in a criterium USACycling has the right to fine and/or suspend the rider.

While these photos have gotten wide circulation, there has been no comment on how tubular failure appears to have caused this crash.

Big Week Planned

I realize that I haven't updated very frequently recently. If I have nothing to say, I don't post BS just to post.

This post is BS though. I have a few great posts in the pipeline this week that I want to announce beforehand, sort of like a teaser. All three are actually in the draft stage:

1. Review of Mad Alchemy PRO Chamois Creme

2. First impression of the Fuji SLM 2.0 mtb bike

3. An overview of local cycling teams--including: team culture, team tactics, who is the strongman, how you join, how they support riders.

4. Updates on the quest for organization in my bike room.

Check back soon for real posts.

Pictures of My Independent Fabrication Steel Crown Jewel

When I was messing with my PowerTap today I realized that I have never posted pics of my sweetness on this blog.

The bike is not super clean, it has the training wheels and I am rocking mountain pedals until my Sidis get fixed. But you can get the idea of how I roll.

When race season arrives, I should have a new white saddle, white tires and new bartape.

New Bike in the Stable: Fuji SLM 2.0

I have been making room in the stable and in the budget for a race worthy mountain bike.   One of our team sponsors, Fuji, was offering this awesome carbon hardtail at a great price, so I snapped one up. 

Obviously the full XT parts spec, the wet white Ritchey bits, and the 22 lb built weight (actual with pedals) and the fancy fork with pop lock  helped push me in the direction of this bike.  

Initially, I was sceptical of getting a carbon fiber XC frame as my first foray into carbon frames, but after talking to enough experienced riders, it seems like a solid frame.  

Better pics and product reviews to follow. 

New Organization Cabinet

I did some work for my father this week and came across this little cabinet.  After throwing a tantrum, I was allowed to take it home.  It belonged to a long deceased family member.  He used it in his worklshop to organize his widgets and whatnots.   In fact this it the McKittrick family organizer; a torch has been passed.  

Obviously I am going to have the drawers labeled: water bottle cage bolts-Ti, chainring bolt-red anodized, chainring bolts-Campagnolo torx30, brake cable--Nokon-gold, Ferrules-derailleur-purple anodized, Canti brake straddle wire, Valve Extenders--60mm, zip ties...You can imagine the level of geeking out that I am about to engage in.  

One of my favorite bike mechanics told me that getting an organizer like this means that I have officially passed into cranky old man status.  I guess that I have to agree.  

EDGE 2-68 Wheelset for Sale-- Campagnolo Compatible

eBay auction Here.

Many of you have asked me about these hot wheels, here is your chance to own them.  I am putting these great wheels up on eBay tomorrow.  I am selling these to get a set of EDGE 1-68's (lighter, more expensive)

I rode these in 5 races, never crashed.  They look brand new other than the scratch that they got in shipping.   No notching on the cassette, no marks on the braking surface. Seriously, these could pass for new.



Always babied, carried to races in wheel bags, no foul weather races.  I used dedicated Swiss Stop Yellow pads with them every race (provided and recommended by EDGE)

DT Swiss 240 hubs

Bladed DT Swiss Spokes

2-68's are EDGE's more robust rim (heavy riders, cross)

They weigh 1400 grams (actual weight with cassette lockring).
Campagnolo Freehub body is easily and inexpensively swapped for Shimano/SRAM 

$1500 firm 

Email for higher resolution pics.  

RMM Gets His Shopper

After a 6 hour training ride, or even worse after a hotly contested race, the last thing that I want to do is throw the leg over a race geometry bicycle to get a cup coffee.  Many would argue that my bicycle stable was already full, but I knew that they were wrong.  Sure I already have: 

1.       Steel Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel for road racing

2.       Wilier for track racing

3.       A crappy Gary Fisher for mountain biking (soon to be replaced with a race worthy bike)

4.       An Igleheart for cyclocross

5.       Lugged steel Basso Loto for winter road training

6.       Team Fuji Fixed for urban/fixed riding

Missing from the list is the shopper, the coffee bike, the bike with the basket and the bell.  I have been craving the comfort of a slow, upright bicycle with a basket.  In fact, I posted about it a couple of weeks ago, hoping that my readers would keep their eyes open for me.  I got a few emails about super commuters with pedigrees, wooden fenders and fancy hubsets.  I was grateful for the effort, but I was looking for something simpler, heavier and more, well quaint.  Honestly, I wanted a British three speed.   The problem is that very few British 3 speed frames are big enough for me.

One day late last week, I walked into Cambridge Bicycle and Jason seemed especially happy to see me.   He said that he had a bike in the basement for me.  He brought me downstairs and showed me this gem.

It is exactly what I need and it fit perfectly.  Sure it is not British, but the hubset is. 

Highlights include:

Phil Wood Bottom Bracket

1972 Sturmey Archer 3 speed Hub (S3C) with coaster brake

Dia Compe center pull cantilever brakes

Sugino Cranks

Nitto Stem

MKS pedals

Continental Touring Tires (28c)

Fancy polished lugs

 

To get the bike on the road, I recabled the brakes and shifter, swapped out the handlebars for the pictured Wald steel bars and installed a basket and a ding ding bell.   With these improvements the bike runs flawlessly and is the perfect local errand bike. 

While I certainly am not fast or nimble on this bike, I have already been called “dapper”, “dignified” and “relaxed looking” while riding it.  That is a large improvement over the “depraved looking sweaty pig” comment that I got while on my fixy a couple of summers ago.   I am perfectly at home riding this bicycle in my tweed jacket while the leather patches on the elbows (you think that I am joking). 

If you have the opportunity to get a shopper, I highly recommend it.  

A special thank you to Kip, Bud and Jason at Cambridge Bicycle for setting this aside for me and making it affordable.  

Validity Test: knowyourrival.com vs. crossresults.com

I just discovered knowyourrival.com from clicking on a banner ad on my blog.  I have been a huge fan of Colin Reuter's project, crossresults.com, as I feel that the comparisons are statistically accurate and are an useful snapshot of riders' standing in the discipline of cyclocross.

Cyclocross is largely an individual sport, while road racing, when done correctly, is a team sport.  One of my main "rivals" on knowyourrival.com is a teammate.   We spent the entire 2008 season working hard together.   Either he was working for me or I was working for him or we were both working for someone else in every race.  Even at the New England Track Championships, when we were in the top two spots, we blocked for each other in races that would have put one or the other of us in the gold while bumping the other to silver (I ended with Silver, Nick with Gold).  

Camnbridge is focused on team results at the expense of group standings.  We'd rather have one rider on the podium and 5 off the back than 6 in the top 20 and no one on the podium.  Our race tactics and results reflect this value system.  

Individual results mean little in a road race.  A leadout man's race results are not an accurate reflection of that rider's standing in a race or how well he played the game.  If a rider spent the whole race chasing down and sitting in on breaks in order to protect a teammate and then got dropped in the last 2 kilos because they were slain from putting huge efforts for the whole race, how is a comparison of that rider's results valid against another rider who just sat in and waited for the finish of the race?  

While I support efforts to provide a new service to competitive cyclists, I don't think that knowyourrival.com is particularly useful most of the time.  Obviously, with improvements, it could be made more useful.  The way that the information is presented could be cleaned up and refined as well.  

I am curious to see how my readers feel about this website.  

Are the comparisons valid?  

Do you find the information useful?  

Comments?

Race Report: Freddy vs. Jason AlleyCat--Road Dork Rides with the Cool Kids

All photos courtesy of Pedal Power Photography.





Most people assume that I have raced an alleycat before. Considering the known factors it would only make sense: over ten years on a fixy, membership on an urban based cycling team with roots in the alleycat/track community, worked as a messenger downtown for a short spell and as everyone knows, grew up listening to punk rock and currently hold radical political views. But alas, I have not raced one. Friday night was my first.

Prerace, I rebuilt my rear fixed hub (replaced the cartridge bearings) on my trusty Fuji fixed. I swapped my 17 tooth cog out for an old 16 tooth track cog, to give me a total of over 77 gear inches. I installed one blinky headlight, one bright headlight and a loud brass bell and a blinky light to both my bag and my seatpost; I wanted high visiblity while wantonly flouting traffic laws. I ate a meal 2 hours before "staging", had an hour nap and then a cup of coffee and a banana at registration.



Staging was at the little courtyard across from the Diesel Cafe in Davis Square (Elm St). The temperatures were below freezing and milling around waiting for the race to start was just like a cyclocross race, only there was less tension and more cigarette smoking. There were somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 riders.



There was no announcement about start times. One of the organizers, Tammy, just randomly yelled out an address at the other end of Elm St (near the intersection of Somerville Ave) and mayhem ensue. Many tried to mount their bikes right there in the crowd, lots of spilled riders. Experienced in maneuvering through crowds of panicked cyclists who are off their bikes, I ran through the crowd and mounted on the fly in the middle of Elm St. once the traffic lightened, perhaps shouldering a few track standers who were obstructing me (old habits die hard).


I believe that I am the blur on the left:



There were dozens of riders ahead of me. I put down a full track sprint and passed riders quickly as they popped. At the first intersection, a young woman slid into a curb. While it looked painful, she was walked away and was at the afterparty. Seeing her go down reminded me that I was one of the better pack riders here, which gave me wings as I kicked it into overdrive on the slight rise after Ace Wheelworks. My only goal was to catch Bradshaw so that I could stay on his wheel.

Bradshaw got his cat 1 upgrade on the morning of this race, congratulate him when you see him:



I was one of the top ten to get to the checkpoint. Since I knew the CP worker well, he favored me with one of the first manifests. This pattern was repeated throughout the race, as my manifest was signed first as I rolled into CP's while others waited in line.

The first address was on Elm St in Cambridge. I didn't know where it was. Some one said that it was outside Inman Squ, maybe off of Cambridge St. Since I was clueless, I followed the guy who sounded like he knew where to go. We went down Somerville Ave, then some side streets and ended up on Beacon St in Somerville. We had about a half dozen riders, with me taking a monster pull, as everyone knew that I had legs. A rider in back steered by calling directions to me.

At the intersection of Beacon and Washington, we had a red light. There was traffic, but there was a hole, so I shot through it, ringing my ding ding. A car was taking a legal right off of Washington onto Beacon into my lane. I called out the hazard to the riders behind me and swerved while gently locked my rear wheel to narrowly avoid the front bumper. Morgie was glued to my wheel and didn't have much warning. He was faced with either hitting me, hitting the car or going over the curb. He chose the curb, went over his handlebars and his race ended with a broken or severely sprained wrist (Morgie, feel better).

Morgie and Lauren:



Once through Inman, we saw Elm St. and I looked up the left side of it while everyone else jumped down the right side. Apparently there was a bunch of blinkies down there that I missed. I scrambled to catch up. The worker was not there yet. High tension waiting. We had been told that we had to complete that checkpoint before all of the others. So we complained while waiting for the worker.

When the worker arrived a minute later we were told that we had to go to Cambridge Bicycles and get something from Marty and bring it back. We burned over to CB and of course, Marty wasn't there. We got Kip to give us business cards and headed back to Elm.

At this point I was on Croth's wheel. He was cutting lanes and rolling intersections more aggressively than I was comfortable with. I would catch him on the straights and get dropped again if there was a blind corner, a stop sign or a light.

After the uneventful CP, Croth, Bradshaw and myself sort of ended up together. We used my iPhone to find the CP in Watertown. Evenone else was discussing the CP's in JP and Brookline, so we decided to hit the Watertown CP to avoid the crowd.

Bradshaw set a blistering pace once we got to Mt. Auburn. Croth and I had a hard time even staying on his wheel, let alone taking pulls. Once in Watertown, the streets became suburban and dark, cars were less considerate. We has a hard time seeing street signs. Headlights kept blinding us.

We missed our turn. We went at least mile out of our way, perhaps two. When we consulted the oracle (iPhone), we noted the names of the surrounding streets. We eventually deduced that a certain street had to be our turn, even though it lacked a street sign. We went down it and the street became even darker. After fumbling in the dark and hitting unexpected potholes, we found Elm St. and the CP.

As we rolled into the CP, I realized that I had a flat rear tire. Croth and Bradshaw rolled out while I flipped the bike and did a crappy job changing my flat.

The next group of riders arrived as I was finishing up. We agreed to work together to get to the Brookline CP. As we dodged traffic on the fast section of Arsenal St. after the mall heading to the river, I heard weird rattling from my rear wheel. Since I had just overhauled the hub, changed the cog and fixed a flat, I didn't know what to think.

I ignored the sound and maintained the paceline. The exploding rear tire sounded like a gunshot. The car behind me backed off. The riders around me were spooked. I nearly dumped the bike since we were hammering at 27+ mph and my tire came off the rim from the force of the explosion. I ground the rim and remaining tire to a stop.
In my mind, there were sparks, but in reality, I was unable to look behind the bike.

Luckily, I had extra tubes and fixed the tire again, only taking more care to insure a good job this time.

Obviously my race was over. My chances of winning a PedalStrike cap or even a Rapha cap were blown. Many riders would have turned around and rolled slowly back to Cambridge and settled into the afterparty. I am not that guy. I didn't want a DNF. Also, I had this little fantasy that I was going to ride so fast and so efficiently through the last 2 CP's that I would still get a respectable result.

People carry maps:



I literally blew every bit of strength that I had pushing my 77 gear inches up Market St. in Brighton center and then up Washington St. toward Washington Squ. This was where I figured out that I was overgeared. I went harder than I went at the Fitchburg TT last year. At Brighton center, I was on the verge of vomiting. By the time I passed the Brighton projects, I thought that I'd never make it all the way to JP and back.

The rest of the way down Washington and Cypress is downhill. I found the Brookline CP with no fuss. I was forced to run around the block before the CP worker would sign my paper. I wanted to kill the poor girl working that CP.

Another group coalesced and I was elected as head of the group. I didn't mean to, but I rode them off of my wheel after the first turn. By the time I got to the base of South Huntington (less than a mile from the Brookline CP), I couldn't see their lights anymore. Natasha tells me that riding away from my group was treachery. If it was, I am sorry.

After wandering around JP a little I found the CP with help from a rider leaving the CP. Without the tip, I would have wandered for alot longer. Rob Arnold was waiting in a park for me. He made me play rock/paper/scissors until I won before he would sign my torn, crumpled piece manifest.

I hightailed it back to Cambridge Bicycles to turn in my manifest. Luckily, I caught most of the lights and had very few close calls.

I was about 40th to finish.

The winner:


While I plan to continue USAC racing as my primary competitive activity, alleycat racing is awfully fun. The rules are much less strict and riders must rely on their wits and geographic knowledge as much as their fitness and tactics. I also have a new respect for the level of skill that someone like Croth has in traffic. Riding his wheel through heavy traffic was terrrifying, yet amazing. Those Lucas Brunelle videos do not convey the level of stress and danger involved in these races.

If you need to read more, Seth wrote a race report too. 

Paris Nice Stage 3 2009

Product Review: Udderly Smooth: Fine Lotion, but DO NOT USE IT AS CHAMOIS CREME

Udderly Smooth is that cute lotion that markets itself as a Bag Balm for the non-Vermonter. In recent years, it has been showing up in bike shops, as free samples at races and online as a chamois creme. At some race last season I raided a swag table for as many samples as my pockets could hold, only to be disappointed in the product.


Yesterday, I thoroughly lubed up my undercarriage with Udderly Smooth before a three hour ride. Since I have an abundance of product, I applied the lotion more liberally than I normally would. When I first pulled my shorts up into the greased underside, my taint felt cold and wet, as if I had an accident. I was immediately put off and nearly changed my clothes. But since I had committed to providing this service to my readers, I soldiered on.



Initially on the bike, I didn't notice anything. I assume that all of the lotion soaked in rather quickly.

After an hour or so, about the time that I start getting slightly uncomfortable if my shorts are not loaded up, I felt as if I had forgotten to lube. I spent the rest of the ride shifting around in my saddle, getting out of the saddle and readjusting my chamois. While I didn't end up with a saddle sore, I also was not very comfortable. Sure, I overcame the discomfort, but that's not how I want my grundle to feel on a ride.

When I got home, there was no evidence of the Udderly Smooth anywhere on my person or in my shorts. Normally with Assos, even after 6 hours in the saddle, there is a greasy taint mark on the chamois indicating that the chamois creme is present and actively protecting you.

There are main three reasons that Udderly Smooth is unacceptable for use as chamois creme:

Viscosity. Udderly smooth is too thin. It soaks into the chamois or skin. Sure it moisturizes, but it does not leave a lasting layer of fiction protection. When I use this product as lotion, I find that it is entirely soaked into my skin after 3 minutes, leaving behind little to no residue. Good lotion, zero protection.



Scent. Subtle lotion smell. Pleasant. It smells great for lotion, but I expect chamois creme to have a menthol aroma.

Anti Bacterial Qualities. There is nothing on the label to indicate that Udderly Smooth has any anti-bacterial agents. No menthol. When you apply this lotion, there is no tingle.


Conclusion. Udderly Smooth is a fine product when used as originally intended: as a lotion for moisturizing skin. It lacks all of the qualities of a fine chamois creme. I hope that you don't waste you money on this. Secondly, I definitely hope that you don't make the mistake of using this during an epic ride.