July 16, 2021

We’re well into the final week of the Tour de France. Mark Cavendish has tied the record for most stage wins, leading some to consider him the greatest sprinter of all time. Tadej Pogacar won two more mountain stages, all but cementing his lead, which currently stands at 5 minutes and 45 seconds. Or, what I like to call an e-tour-nity. Will forever be enough? We’ll find out on July 18.

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Warm Up

Look-alikes and Futures Bikes

Velocipedia

I love this story. As an experiment, an Italian designer named Gianluca Gimini asked friends and random strangers to draw a men’s bicycle from memory. The results were amusing, creative, and revealing of a central theme: most people simply can’t draw a bike. After conducting this fun little test on literally hundreds of people, Gemini shared some of the more interesting and diverse drawings in what he dubbed the velocipedia. He then went a step further and created realistic 3-D renderings based on some of the drawings, helping these bizarre-looking bikes come to life.

This got me thinking about the future of cycling and where bike designs go from here. The trend towards lighter, stronger, and faster bikes will continue indefinitely. But what does that mean? Not surprisingly, the Internet has shared predictions. And I must say, I rather like the direction we’re heading.

Crank It

Caught in the Crosscurrent

Photo credit: Justin Prugh

Last Tuesday night in San Diego, about 50 cyclists from all walks of life rolled up to a dirt parking lot in Balboa Park to participate in the first Tracklocross World Tour. For the uninitiated, I like the way Fiefdom describes tracklocross: “Think of it as cyclocross on a bike that is totally wrong for it, and realize that this makes it the best bike for the job.”

In two waves – first an “open” category with any/all bikes, followed by the tracklocross-only bikes – riders dashed to their steeds in a Le Mans start, then hustled around two laps of a dirt-and-grass course featuring obstacles such as logs, ramps, and a cement wall. As a competitor in the “open” category, by far the most nerve-racking segment for me was scooting through a patch of cacti, carefully maneuvering to avoid the prickly pears that reached menacingly into the trail. Talk about threading the needle.

Inspired by American Sepp Kuss’s remarkable stage win at the Tour, the local news had a renewed appetite for cycling stories. That led them to my friend and the mastermind of the Tracklocross World Tour, Cris Noble, about this up-and-coming form of racing. Check it out.

Coffee Stop

In Praise of the Dirty Chai

Photo credit: Cole Wyland

A coffee snob, I am not. In truth, I only drink a few cups per week, on average, mostly as an incentive to ride a little faster, a little farther, a little longer. When I’m home, I tend to keep it simple: pour-over coffee with milk. Attributes such as the coffee’s roast or country of origin aren’t as important to me as attributes like “big mug” and “ready fast.”

When I’m out, though, I raise my standards considerably with the order of a dirty chai latte. At $5, it’s a splurge, but typically only a couple quarters more splurgy than a typical latte. In my opinion, that extra $0.50 is working overtime. 

In this cup, the spice and sweetness of chai tea commingles with the invigorating and familiar espresso shot. Then, frothy, steamed milk adds a smooth creaminess that settles the intensity of those flavors down while simultaneously taking the enjoyment up a notch.

As usual, recipes abound for the chai latte. Those sleepy mornings when a regular cafe au lait just won't cut it, the most convenient way I’ve found to replicate the barista’s touch is to add about half a scoop of Trader Joe’s Chai Tea latte mix (FYI, it’s much cheaper at TJ’s) to my mug before pouring the coffee in. Since it’s summer, if you’re more into the iced coffee scene, I’ve got you covered.

Jaunt Back

So Long, SAG Wagon

Photo credit: Patrick Hendry

The broom wagon or SAG (supplies and gear) wagon got its start at the 1910 Tour as the vehicle that “swept” up riders who couldn’t complete the ride in the allotted time (or at all). Today, they are a critical part of the Tour, supplying competitors with everything from words of encouragement to entirely new bicycles. Oh, how lovely it must be to encounter something as routine as a flat and then have an expert mechanic hand you a brand new, perfectly tuned and fitted bicycle.

The less fortunate 8 billion or so of us who aren’t sponsored at quite that level are left to do self-supported rides. You pack your own food, tools, and – if you’re venturing out for more than a day – your own shelter and change(s) of clothing. Taken to an extreme, bikepacking, as it’s known, can extend to weeks or months at a time.

The latest and most incredible example of bikepacking I’ve seen lately is the Alt Tour. Australian pro cyclist Lachlan Morton biked the entirety of the 2021 Tour de France route (all 21 stages, plus the 2,000+ extra kilometers between stages), totally alone and unsupported. Coolest of all, he started the 3,400-mile ride on the same day as the peloton, yet finished days ahead of it.

Regrettably, there’s no special colored or patterned jersey for this magnitude of accomplishment yet, but you do get a nice little story about it in NY Times Magazine.

Cool Down

Rubber, Meet Road

Photo credit: Adhika Soreng

The burning question heading into this weekend’s Belgian Waffle Ride in San Diego is about tires. Specifically, which set of tires are fast enough on pavement, stable enough on sand, and grippy enough in the loose dirt to get you safely and quickly from A to B? While IRC claims to have devised a range of tires for exactly this occasion, I’m a big boy who can make his own decisions about the gear that will serve me best. So, this week I nerded out on all things tires.

It turns out there’s more to consider than I’d initially thought: size, width, casing, compound, valve type, tube/tubeless, foldable/not, tread pattern, pressure, puncture resistance, etc. All of these variables play a part in preparing you for the kind of riding you want to do.

That said, the big kahuna of what makes a good tire is its rolling resistance. As I discussed in last week’s newsletter, aerodynamics has the largest impact on your speed and the effort it takes to maintain it. Rolling resistance is another big piece of the equation. According to Jan-Niklas Jünger, bicycle tire product manager at Continental, “At typical road bike speeds, aerodynamic drag might account for 70% of the effect holding you back, with about 20% down to rolling resistance. All other factors – like your chain rubbing, the bearings – might be only 10%."

I took my newfound tire knowledge and shopped around online to apply what I’d learned. You know what? Those guys at IRC seem to know what they're doing. But I also learned that you can get similar tires from Bontrager with a 30-day unconditional return policy. Meaning, I can roll these babies in the BWR and take ‘em back afterwards for a full refund if I don’t like them. That's a deal you can't pass up.

Peel Off

Giphy

As I mentioned, the Belgian Waffle Ride in San Diego is this Sunday. Four thousand other riders and I are expected to show up at the starting line, ready to endure a level of joyful suffering not felt since...well, the 2019 BWR in San Diego. It should be a grand time, and I’m grateful to all you Group Riders who will cheer me on and, maybe if I'm lucky, have a cold beer ready for me at the finish line. 

As always, if you come upon something you think should be featured in Group Ride, please send it along.