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!