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When Are Your Favorite Shorts — Not?

05.15.2012 by Ray Niekamp // Leave a Comment

Whenever I go on an organized ride, or a club ride, or a ride where I’ll be doing more mileage than normal, I have a pair of bib shorts that I always pull out of the dresser drawer. They’re by Pearl Izumi, and I’ve had them for almost four years. The reason they’re my go-to short is comfort. The chamois pad just seems to fit my bottom well. I’ve been more comfortable in these shorts than in any of my other pairs.

But that’s changed. In last weekend’s Armadillo ride, I noticed some discomfort down there after about 25 miles. That hadn’t ever happened with the PI bibs in the past. At a rest stop, I made some adjustments and thought I had everything worked out. But after another five miles or so, the discomfort was back again. As I alluded to in the last post, I got to the point where all I wanted to do was end the ride.

Oddly enough, once the ride did end, the discomfort went away. Evidently, the pedaling motion of the thighs had something to do with the soreness during the ride.

The next day, I made sure to select my Sugoi shorts, because their chamois pad is the largest one I’ve ever seen. I rode 27 miles and had no complaints in the nether regions. It looks like I’m going to have to adopt a new favorite pair of shorts for my future “big” rides.

I’m still not sure what the problem was with the bibs. Maybe the fact that they’re four years old has something to do with it, although the pad is not noticeably compressed from its original shape. Still, I’ll chalk it up to age.

So what been your experience? Have you ever had a pair of good shorts go bad? If so, what caused it — if you know? Have you determined a maximum life span for your biking shorts? (Obviously, you get what you pay for — but the PIs cost over $100, and I still use a five-year old pair of cheap Nashbar shorts with a single-layer foam pad for rides of an hour or less. They work out fine.

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Categories // Equipment Tags // clothing

Misplaced Loyalty To The Local Bike Shop?

05.10.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 13 Comments

Guest poster Jeff Hemmel liked his local bike shop — until he realized he didn’t.

 We hear a lot about doing business with the LBS, or local bike shop. For the most part, I agree. These are businesses in our community, supporting our sport. Sure, I’ll get something online if it’s truly a fantastic deal. But for the most part, I try to keep things close to home.

Lately, however, I’ve been having second thoughts about which of those community shops deserves my support.

This isn’t about calling anyone out. Suffice it to say one bike shop is where I have bought two bikes, some semi-expensive wheels, numerous parts and accessories, and a decent amount of service over the years. They’re close and convenient. The other is where I have bought a few things at best, and gotten the occasional service. They’re neither close nor convenient, especially if I have to leave my bike or get there by car.

Seemingly it would be a no-brainer to keep going to Shop #1, except for one significant detail. With a couple notable exceptions, the staff is just not that friendly. And it’s not just me who thinks so. I’ve had both neighbors and friends share similar experiences. I don’t expect them to roll out the red carpet. But as a polite, friendly customer who has spent a lot of money in that shop, I do expect to feel valued when I go in there. Heck, at one time I figured I’d probably end up friends with some of these guys. Instead, I sometimes feel like I’ve annoyed them just by coming in the door. As I said, there are a couple exceptions, including one mechanic who always has a great attitude. The overall vibe, however, is just downright weird. Friendly conversation, beyond the basics, is rare. The quickest tweak usually results in a charge. The “friendly” wrench went out of his way and taught me how to do something several months back; the next time I came in one of the others made a snide comment about how much time I had wasted.

It would be easy to dismiss these negative encounters as the occasional misunderstanding or bad day. But sadly, I’ve come to expect it as the norm.

Contrast that experience with Shop #2. On the whole, I haven’t spent much money at all there. I’ve bought no bikes, and few parts. Most of my visits have been when I’m riding by and stop in for something simple. But when I walk in their door, I’m always greeted with a friendly, sincere hello. They ask how I’m doing, how’s my riding going, etc. On the occasion that I’ve mentioned a problem, they’ve immediately thrown my bike on a stand and given it a tweak. Simple, quick adjustments are never followed with a charge (I typically respond with a tip for their generosity). The one time they did do a more extensive repair — a bottom bracket replacement — they compensated for a delayed part by temporarily putting a completely different crank and bottom bracket on my bike, just so that I could keep riding rather than be left on the sidelines for a week. They’ve never asked for my long-term business. But their actions, and their friendly nature, show they deserve it.

For some reason I’ve felt some kind of strange loyalty to Shop #1. I’ve even gone so far as to defend them when others have criticized. But finally, I’ve stopped to ask myself why. Why do I support a shop that I almost dread going into? Why do I ignore a shop that always makes me feel welcome?

I urge you to support your local bike shop. But just because a shop is local doesn’t mean it deserves your business. You’ve got to feel good about where you spend your money…and they’ve got to earn it.

—————-

By the way, here’s a special offer for Bike Noob readers. The concoction called Secret Drink Mix, which Jeff profiled awhile ago, now has a new name. It’s called Skratch Labs. And they’re offering a 15% discount. Visit their website, go to Products, and place your order. Enter Bike Noob in the discount spot.

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Categories // Equipment, guest post Tags // guest post, Hemmel, LBS

Club Kit

03.20.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

When I posted about my new Penn State jersey last week, I mentioned that I had run into our club ride that was departing in the afternoon after a postponement because of morning rains. I noted that most of the riders were wearing their club kit.

“People who regularly go on club rides usually wear club kit?” one commenter wrote. “Huh. Would never have occurred to me to do something like that.”

Well, I don’t know about your club, but we like the look of our club jerseys. Up until last year, a new version came out every year. The picture below shows our current look.

The name of my club is the Circle C Ranch Cycling Club (CCRCC), after the name of the neighborhood in which most of us live. The white version of our club kit came out in 2011, and we haven’t created a new one for the current year. The blue one in the middle is the 2010 version. I’m also in the 2010 version in the banner at the top of this page. The CR emblem is the logo used by the Circle C Ranch subdivision — a “circle” with the letters C and R (for Ranch). We’ve had the circle changed into a sprocket ring. We’re cyclists, after all! This picture was taken on a warm summer day, but club members can also get a load of accessories, all color-coordinated, such as shorts, tights, arm warmers, wind vests, thermal jackets, and cycling caps. Lots of our members have all these and more.

In addition, on many rides you’ll find people in older versions of our kit. After all, the jerseys don’t wear out that quickly, so they’re still wearable.

Other clubs in the Austin area have their own kit as well, such as Lake Travis Cycling, the Austin Cycling Association, Tough Cookies, Austin Flyers, and more. They’re all well represented at area group rides.

So I was wondering, in light of the comment above, do you cycle with a club that has its own kit? Do you wear it on club rides? And if so, what does it look like? I’d love it if you sent me some pictures of your own club’s designs — preferably being worn at a local event. In future weeks, I’ll revisit this topic with some more samples of what folks are wearing out on their rides. Send pictures to rainycamp AT Yahoo DOT com.

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Categories // Accessories, Equipment Tags // clothing

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