Colorado Springs, Day 4

i passed both the mechanic's and official's exam, threw down the buxx, am now licensed, and Ben now has a mechanic for his Big Time Ventures. yay!

day 4 brought little new content, with the exception of a presentation by the USA team soigneur, who talked about his job and how he interacts with the mechanic. It was, honestly, quite interesting. Soigneurs really have a tough role to fill and have to be massage therapists, nutritionists, and basic physical therapists. We stay up late washing bikes, they stay up late mixing bottles.

We also had a presentation about doping. As in, no. And never transport anything that's locked for an athlete. And so on. The rules are pretty strict, and one big problem now is security- that unattended bottles could have something slipped in them by some opponent who wants your team to test positive. Just like not letting people steal bikes, you should keep an eye on the nutrition.

After that they returned our exams and we all argued over what the solutions should be. Calvin from Park Tools led the discussion as some guys got seriously aggro over the answers to questions like these:
It's a pretty steep uphill 5K to the end of a road race and one of your riders is in a breakaway off the front. He radios back that he hit a pothole and bent his wheel. He already opened the calipers and it's still rubbing. Do you:
a) Prepare for a wheel change
b) prepare for a bike change
c) tell him to deal, he's almost at the finish line
d) lean out the window and cut his brake cable
OK, so I went with A, since I thought D will get you a fine for leaning out the window (true) and is illegal by the brake rule (untrue). Actually the rule says you have to start with two working brakes. So, the answer is D. Oh, and wheel changes on an uphill, not a good idea, since your rider's gonna struggle to get back to the pack.
I got an 87, which was about average for the group.

Top tips of the weekend:
- Don't let the air out of your tubulars when you're done for the day. Keep them inflated so that if you have a slow leak it will show itself.
- You don't need to open the brake calipers to do a wheel change on a road bike, so don't waste your time.
- Unless you're on the pro tour, always check your bike over hours before the race- usually before you leave home. When you get to the race, doublecheck your stem, bars, seatpost, and skewers for security.
- Gap your spare wheels.
- Never ride a tubular that hasn't cured 12 hours.
- Don't trust carbon after a crash. Tap it with a coin, it should "ping." If an area thumps, that's delamination.
- You really need all four bolts on the faceplate of your stem.
- Loctite is your friend, as is duct tape and a torque wrench.
- Helping other teams is nice, but this is a race, and you don't want to be the guy that gave the other team a wheelchange that allowed them to beat you.
- When jumping out of cars, always look back first.
- Do whatever it takes, but just get the rider to the finish line.

Anyway, that's the end of that adventure. I felt like for four days I was among superheros- and occasionally treated like one myself. It's hard being back in reality. I would strongly recommend the clinic to anyone interested in becoming a pro tour mechanic or just needing the license... outside of that, it's prolly a rather expensive venture but damn, was that interesting. A few pictures are on my flickr.

Colorado Springs, Day 3

After three hours of sleep last night I was a zombie today, but it was still exciting enough to keep me awake. Today's classes included BMX, tubulars, suspension, cx and team support, bike design, carbon fiber, and the complete sleeper on DOT compliance when you're driving the freaking team truck with trailer.

highlight of the day was Matt Bracken, Prez of IF, giving a presentation on bicycle design that amounted to a great short history of the rise of TI and carbon in frames, with some great stories thrown in about 1 1/4 and 1 1/8 headsets, fork rake, and how Chris King is a good dude. It's great hearing how builders have a tight community that helps each other out and how ideas grow when one company piggybacks off another's idea. I have to also say this: you could tell with every word Matt said that he really seriously deeply cares about not just bikes but also the biking community, his co-workers, his family, and being a good person. Oh, and he brought a sexy little $10,000 carbon frame with ti carved lugs and record and hotttttt.

most useful was probably the carbon presentation, second was the tubulars. carbon's a great material but boy o boy are there still outstanding issues... like braking heat on rims and the difficulty of finding delamination. but we've got the tricks now, don't worry... though Ric of FSA predicts the brake problem will bring about disc brakes in road biking... if you're a roadie with carbon rims, make sure you inspect your rims for remnants of melting brake pad. that stuff clumps up, heats up, and ruins your rims. Use alcohol to get it off. That's the other thing- carbonis stronger than most manufacturers will admit, so while you may be told that soft brake pads and mild cleaners are it, they can take ceramic pads and alcohol and such. In fact, ceramic pads may minimize the brake heat problem a little, though they'll void your warranty on some rims...

as for the tubular presentation, i did it all wrong last year! you don't need to scrape off ALL the old glue on the rim. you should use the vittoria mastik cement, since it's tested strongest. you shouldn't even try to get glue off the tire since the solvent that would do that would weaken the tire. the tape is USELESS... most importantly, the glue strands should be constant all the way around the rim, not just here and there, and you should be able to see them coming off the tire. and this is all coming from Calvin of Park Tools. (yes, of Calvin's corner.)

finally, i think i should do some rider-side training for my Half Acre teammates. while what i'm learning is how to get riders back in the game, i think more riders need to know the rules and how they can help, from what to do while waiting for a wheel change to what to look for in a quick bike check the morning of race day to when you can and can't get the free lap in a crit to what track races get wheel changes. it's too much to communicate in writing, but it's super important.

in a hurry to get to more class. one day to go and i'll be a licensed official and mechanic!

Colorado Springs, Day 2

I'm writing this one for you. Yeah, you, you hardcore reader. I'm gonna make this weekend blog-read worth it. No, really. I may be writing from having just closed the Finish Line, a bar across the street from the Olympic Training Center, where we drank Beam and Miller Lite (and Watermelon Pucker and Fat Tire) but I'm serious. Stay tuned.

The 14 hour today included the following classes: power meters; racer bike fit; road, tt, and crit neutral suport; bike washing ;packing, shipping, and inventory; wheel changes; mountain bike support; and track support. Seem like a lot for one day? Yeah, you and I are in agreement.

Here's what I learned, without the wonky installation/mechanic details: powertaps are ok, but only SRM's are truly accurate; racers should be fit to their bikes reflecting the needs of the event they're in, and never EVER forget the calibration of how they like their bike in case one is lost in transit; wheel changes are always ok, bike changes take time, drive behind the pack but ideally have a moto for the break, and only the commissar can tell you to move to the break; suds in your soap are good and biodegradable is relative; cover your suspension and brakes when you wash; airlines are jerks and keep your toolbox under 50 lb, and bring pins and stickers to bribe your way through; look before you jump out of a car or off a moto and always carry your wheels with quick releases together- front in your left- and let riders change front wheels if you have more than one bike to attend to, and always gap your wheels- make it so that there's no spinning the skewer involved but just flipping the lever to get the wheel in right; non-UCI mtb events have NO PIT and riders can't accept support in NORBA; for the track, have a 15 box (duh), and change gears fast, and riders have 1300m to get in the pack for free- about 4-5 laps- if you need to change their wheel on a points-madison-scratch race (only).

and then there are the little tricks. the tool for opening the water flow, the tool for cutting the zip-ties. the junior gears. the easy way to change a wheel. the tube sealant that race mechanics feel is worth the weight, and what works for tire bead sealant. i feel like i'm so suddenly jampacked with knowledge that i'll forget it if i don't tell everyone. but i don't want to tell everyone. email me if you wanna know some tricks or if you want me in your pit.

note to self: have a flat clinic for our team's road squad. note to self 2: make sure all MTB riders go out with the right kit. note to self three: holy cow do people in the midwest race low-tech and without many of the amenities that the coastal crowds have. note to self four: it's late. tomorrow's classes start in 4 hours. sleep, julie. sleep. (wanna learn? watch the Park Tools head mechanic wash a bike... oh, hells yeah.)

Colorado Springs, Day 1

yes, so, it's cold and snowy here at the USA Olympic Training Center, but y'all already knew that. it's also a strange hodgepodge of nice new facilities and old cruddy ones- and the new ones all sport sleek corporate images. the lounge of our dorm is sponsored by AT&T, the cups in the dining room are McDonald's, and there's a Bank of America ATM in the lobby. the complex has a shooting range, some pools, lots of gyms, meeting rooms, and dorms. USA Cycling has the backside/basement of a swimming pool building, and water from the pool seeps through the walls leaving bubbles and stains. The walls in the USAC offices are labeled "DO NOT DRILL/HAMMER INTO THIS WALL" or somesuch, probably because there's a pool on the other side.

the instructors at this USA Cycling Bill Woodul Race Mechanics' Clinic are heavy hitters- the heads of Mavic and Shimano neutral support, the President of IndyFab, Park Tools' head mechanic, and more. There are guys in this clinic who really want to start today as neutral support mechanics, who'd quit their lives and go on the road with a pro team if they could. It's pretty cool. oh, and there are two women... and about 52 men.

when we arrived at noon, the schedule in front of us showed us in class from 8am-9pm every day, with a break for lunch and dinner. today, we started with video of neutral race support jumping in and out of cars. it was amazing... imagine a COPS-style video camera mounted in a yellow Mavic car. It went like this:
(audio) We've got one
What is it?
Rear! Rear rear rear!
Cardoor opening
Cardoor slamming
(Guy running up to rider)
(15 seconds later, guy's opening the door and getting back in the car.)
let's roll..
-cut-
Pileup! Pileup!
(Three guys run out to the crash, each with 4 wheels in hand.)
After we watched this, dazzled at what great movie stars race mechanics are, they taught us rule number one: ALWAYS look back before jumping out of a car. And down. In case the ditch drops 8'.

then we took a brief field trip to the 7-Eleven track, where they explained that the banking was increased from 35 to 38 to accommodate faster riders. .. and that some tracks are not banked enough so fast riders can't even ride them. (they mentioned Marymoor.) It was covered in snow and you could see evidence of the resident infield fox. Inside the building, posters and news articles dating back to the 80's told the story of what a history that track has and the nationals team bikes were stored in cages. It was neat.

After that, a tour of the USA Cycling HQ. Most of the equipment is in Belgium or at a BMX clinic or something, but what was left behind is amazing- and mostly sponsor-donated by Mavic, Specialized, Teschner. USAC mechanics regaled us with stories of checking 15 bike boxes at a time at the airport, and we saw the storerooms full of clothing, tires, saddles, shoes, and more.

Before dinner, a head mechanic from FSA did a one-hour presentation about the physics of wheels and his ideas about wheelbuilding. the wheel, they say, is perfectly designed to handle the stresses we give it with the exception of sideways stuff- like losing traction in a corner. that's why low spoke counts work. the interesting thing to me is that radial-laced rear wheels are uncommon not just because radial is slightly less strong, but also because to make a radial wheel work you have to wind it up a little to force the radial spokes to act like trailers/pullers. getting them in that role takes a split second and makes the wheel feel a little, well, delayed.

And after dinner, a two hour presentation about the rulez-- they're pushing hard for all of us to go home with both a mechanic's and an offical's license. it is useful since the last thing you want to do as a mechanic is fix someone's bike but then break the rules in the process and have them thrown out. You know, like giving someone a tube on a NORBA race. Or taking too long on a track wheel change.

tomorrow, classes on wheelchanges, pressure washers, track support, and more.

happy.

we spent the weekend with our dog laying in front of a fireplace and our phones off, enjoying a couch, some trails, random supper clubs, and a few firsts. i missed skiing and hope that now that the equipment's repossessed from my parents' basement we'll use it more. We grabbed some snowshoes too.

we had to avoid the groomed xc ski trails, since Molly's not allowed, and opted instead for an untouched golf course. Molly was running figure eights off leash in front of us, the snow glittered in the sun, the views were gorgeous. Ben got one knee wet with snow. I cried.

There's alot of work to do.