zipp rant and lance racing locally today.

[lnomalley]

i just got home from racing up in Ojai at the Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix. Garret was a sweet kid who died racing in Tuscon two years ago.. anyway before i get into it.. guess who showed up to race?


Lance Armstrong! My friend Harm Jenson won for the second year in a row in a beautiful sprint he set up on the back side of the course...


anyway, i digress.... i did two races today.. one on my zipp 303's and one on my cosmic carbones. I hate zipps with a passion.... every time i had to lean the bike heavily into a turn they skipped and chattered, in one turn my back wheel kicked out so severely that my hands were knocked off the bars (i recovered with my chin on the stem and my knees on the top tube)... and on top of that i think they feel like crap. the race i did on the carbones.. even with the weight penalty going up the hill... well, they felt perfect and i could push the bike as hard as i wanted with out fearing for my life. in the zipp race i gave myself a stomach ache trying to push the fear down in the corners because of thoise crap wheels. i dont understabd why anyone would use zipps for anything other than a tt.

wanna buy em..? i'm getting a second set of carbones.

so back to lance.. he was strong, but insanely inelegant on the bike.... weird hunch back, ripped legs and thick. plenty of time to lean out after georgia.

[Big Dan]

Ino, did lance say anything about your town being the best for the 2012 Olympics?

[lnomalley]

i dunno about you, but i'd hate to be famous. creeps me out enough just making posts here let alone being held accountable for every dumb thing i say.

[Kurt]

he showed, drat - I was going to shoot up there but I thought all there would be was a bunch of wheel sucking posers on 7evens. :D

[lnomalley]

ryan rode a respectable race and showed in an early breakor two, and matias (i think) got away late in the race too. l.g. held their own. lance drove the peleton to bring back arron olsen from colavita.. he stayed away for a good 4 or 5 laps.. and things went from really fast to.. holy crap how are they going that fast... (with you know who pulling the field).

i only saw them soft pedal on the finishing straight for 5 seconds of one lap and that was just to let someone off the front cook a little. its was aggro and harm came around the last corner so hard.. that i couldn't believe he didn't pile into the barriers. he took it easily by three lengths. LA respectfully got out of the way and let the guys make a living...

[Bill Bove]

Harm is one of the good people in the sport. He likes to come to Florida in the fall to do our local pro race and wears my shops jersey and hangs out with my customers giving them a peek into the sharp end of the pro peleton for a basicly the cost of his room. Harm brings good will to my shop and I help lessen the financial burden of a guy trying to be a bike racer. Unless your name is Lance, you ain't making much as a domestic pro racer.

[Bill Bove]

Ino, did lance say anything about your town being the best for the 2012 Olympics?
He (back) pedelled like a pro there, didn't he?

[BumbleBeeDave]

No matter what he says about anything now, he p*sses somebody off. Welcome to the world of superstardom . . . :(

BBDave

[Ken Lehner]

anyway, i digress.... i did two races today.. one on my zipp 303's and one on my cosmic carbones. I hate zipps with a passion.... every time i had to lean the bike heavily into a turn they skipped and chattered, in one turn my back wheel kicked out so severely that my hands were knocked off the bars (i recovered with my chin on the stem and my knees on the top tube)... and on top of that i think they feel like crap. the race i did on the carbones.. even with the weight penalty going up the hill... well, they felt perfect and i could push the bike as hard as i wanted with out fearing for my life. in the zipp race i gave myself a stomach ache trying to push the fear down in the corners because of thoise crap wheels. i dont understabd why anyone would use zipps for anything other than a tt.

wanna buy em..? i'm getting a second set of carbones.

To what do you attribute this apparent behavior? I can't imagine it being anything other than tire selection/pressure.

[lnomalley]

i've played w/ tire pressure on the zips. i was running 110 in back in 100 in front thinking that would add some traction over the soft roads. what i attribute it to is that i am relative light and on a stiff alumunim bike (albiet not ungodly stiff) and that the rims are very stiff torsionally (hence the chatter). keep in mind relative to the zipps, the cosmics when pushed to the extreme still do whatever i want them to regardless of tire pressure.

i am not making it up.. every time i race the zipps in a crit i have a near death experience.. and i also see (1) crash caused by a guy losing his back carbon wheel to chatter in most the crits i do.

just rolling sraight the zipps are great.. even on a road race when you dont have to really deal with a lot of cornering i liked the zipps, (and i am sure that people that design and make the wheels are good, hardworking people sincerely trying to make the best wheel they can), i just don't understand how anyone can really like them).

personally i am drawing a line in the sand and saying as of yesterday, i will never use them again. i think they look cool and i love that they are light and american made... but no thanks.

[chrisroph]

My 303's are solid and safe; I have had very good luck with mine in crits with conti comp 23's.

[Kurt]

ryan rode a respectable race and showed in an early breakor two, and matias (i think) got away late in the race too. l.g. held their own. lance drove the peleton to bring back arron olsen from colavita.. he stayed away for a good 4 or 5 laps.. and things went from really fast to.. holy crap how are they going that fast... (with you know who pulling the field).

i only saw them soft pedal on the finishing straight for 5 seconds of one lap and that was just to let someone off the front cook a little. its was aggro and harm came around the last corner so hard.. that i couldn't believe he didn't pile into the barriers. he took it easily by three lengths. LA respectfully got out of the way and let the guys make a living...

thanks for the recap, just saw greg outside spinning his weapons out, got a 5th, said that rocque came around him and pulled him to the finish, but was going so hard greg could not go around him, opps - lol. btw, I was going to say how good you are looking, hopefully not too strong to last - past the halfway mark on the cup standing, way to go, I really mean it. based on the pics @ http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=photos/2005/apr05/lemire05/#Garrett you are right, la does not look to good.

[yeehawfactor]

lance doesn't look so good? because he didn't shave?

[Too Tall]

Black Socks....shudder.

[EdK]

Finally someone else that has 1) Actually raced both Carbones and Zipps 2) isn't paid by Zipp to promote the stuff.

Ojai has a sharp climb in it that goes on for much longer than is comfortable. Carbones worked great......

I knew I wasn't nuts.

Ojai = tough tough day.

[madbiker]

I've raced plenty of times on zipps and have never had any issues, and no, I'm far from being sponsored! I'm not sure that the components used on them are as high of quality as the Mavics, but the wheels have worked great for me, and are very light.

[saab2000]

You know who else placed? Thurlow Rogers! I have not heard that name in years! He was around in the early '80s when I was getting into it!

Keep the old dudes going!! Inspirational for me!

[Kurt]

You know who else placed? Thurlow Rogers! I have not heard that name in years! He was around in the early '80s when I was getting into it!

Keep the old dudes going!! Inspirational for me!


last sat he and a bunch of his gang passed me on piuma like I was standing still - wait, I was standing still. he solo's and wins almost everything, boring, lol - he does all the races offered each time, he is a monster like no other - you should see his sister dara, ouch!

current cup standing's:

MASTERS 35
1 Mark Scott Helen's Cycles 62
2 Thurlow Rogers Specialized/Sonance 48

MASTERS 45
1 Steven Strickler Specialized/Sonance 69
2 Malcolm Hill Specialized/Sonance 56
3 Thurlow Rogers Specialized/Sonance 44

CAT 1/2
1 Ryan Lane Kahala La Grange 51
2 Dan Schmatz Seasilver 42
3 Marty Northstein Navigators 42
4 Peter Andersen Team Carina 36
5 Bartek Fidelus Ranchos 34
6 Andy Wilson Karl Strauss/SDBC 33
7 Harm Jansen Helen's Cycles 33
8 Jacob Erker Symmetrics 32
9 Thurlow Rogers Specialized/Sonance 30

[jerk]

carbones are better wheels.

jerk

[MaxHr203]

anyway, i digress.... i did two races today.. one on my zipp 303's and one on my cosmic carbones. I hate zipps with a passion.... every time i had to lean the bike heavily into a turn they skipped and chattered, in one turn my back wheel kicked out so severely that my hands were knocked off the bars (i recovered with my chin on the stem and my knees on the top tube)... and on top of that i think they feel like crap. the race i did on the carbones.. even with the weight penalty going up the hill... well, they felt perfect and i could push the bike as hard as i wanted with out fearing for my life. in the zipp race i gave myself a stomach ache trying to push the fear down in the corners because of thoise crap wheels. i dont understabd why anyone would use zipps for anything other than a tt.

wanna buy em..? i'm getting a second set of carbones

so back to lance.. he was strong, but insanely inelegant on the bike.... weird hunch back, ripped legs and thick. plenty of time to lean out after georgia.[/QUOTE]

Show how much do you wan t to sell them for?

[lnomalley]

make me an offer. they are the black hubbed 303's with new hand made Challange Criterium Csew ups... no warranty issues ever and never crashed. I'll throw them on ebay later in the week (it takes me a few days to not be cross eyed after the weekend).

[lnomalley]

carbones are better wheels.

jerk

indeed.