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Sizing up wet roads

07.04.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 7 Comments

This post may be coming a few days late — at least in Central Texas. We’ve had nearly a week of heavy rain, courtesy Tropical Storm/Hurricane Alex. For those of us who have to get out on the bike, it means we had to ride in wet conditions.

My wife approaching our neighborhood on a recent wet ride.

My last major crash came because of wet roads. Ever since, I prefer not to ride if it’s raining. But often, I get out out on the road when the rains come. So we might as well learn to deal with them.

It’s a good idea to test the road surface first. We all know (I hope) that roads are slipperiest when the rain has just started, because it brings oil to the surface. After the rain has been around awhile, it washes that oil away.

So, you might want to start your ride in the wet by standing on the pedals to accelerate quickly. If your rear wheel slips, you know the road surface offers less traction. Be careful.  Greg LeMond used to test the surface by taking one foot out of the pedal, and sliding the rear wheel out while stopping to see how much traction the roads would give.

Do your braking well before you enter a turn. Remember that it will take longer to slow down because your brake pads are skimming water from the rims. But don’t brake while turning.

If the road is clear, try to take the turn on a wide arc. That has the effect of straightening the curve. Be smooth about it.

Lots of riders (myself included) try to keep the bike upright, but lean their bodies into the turn. Pro cyclist Davis Phinney says that’s not necessary. Lean both bike and body, he says — just do it gently, and not as far as you usually would.

In fact, slick road tires probably offer more traction than knobby MTB tires, because more tire is in contact with the pavement. However, it is commonly recommended to lower the air pressure in your tires on wet days. I bring mine down about 10 pounds in each tire, and have had good results.

It’s also been my experience that I’m more likely to have punctures in wet conditions, because the road gunk you pick up tends to stick to the tire. So a piece of glass or metal that you might throw off after one revolution in dry conditions might stay on the tire for several rotations — and that increases the likelihood that they will punch through the tread.

Road surface makes a difference. Concrete is better than asphalt. Chip seal is pretty good, because the rough surface gives the tires something to grab. Old asphalt is better than new asphalt. When I crashed, I was turning from an older chip sealed road onto a recently-asphalted residential street. Water collected on the surface of the new asphalt. When my tire hit the new stuff, it slid out from under me.

Be wary of metal surfaces like manhole covers, or flat metal sheets in road repair areas. They’re as slick as ice. So too, for the raised paint that marks traffic lanes. Two riders in the Tour de France prologue were knocked out of the Tour because they hit those raised traffic lines.

Riding in the wet may not be the pleasantest way to spend time on the bike, but it doesn’t have to be a ride-stopper, either. For me, the biggest problem riding in the rain isn’t the road surface, but keeping my glasses clear. Any ideas to help with that?

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Categories // Technique Tags // rain, Technique

Those Bike Team Names – 2010 Version – Part 2

07.01.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Last time, we featured the first eleven teams in this year’s Tour de France. Now, a look at the second eleven.

HTC-Columbia: USA. The sponsor order flipped this year, with droid phone maker HTC getting top billing. Outdoor clothing manufacturer Columbia is the other major sponsor. One of the Tour’s outstanding teams, with 76 wins in 2008, and 85 in 2009.  Sprint star Mark Cavendish won six stages in last year’s Tour.

Top riders: Cavendish, Tony Martin, Andre Greipel.

Bike: Scott

Katusha: Russia. Organized by the Russian Global Cycling Project foundation, which itself is funded by Russian businesses such as Gazprom, Itera and Rostechnologii. Their big budget lured some big stars last year, in their first season of racing. They may be even stronger this year. But one star, Kim Kirchen, is out of the Tour with heart problems.

Top riders: Vladimir Karpets, Robbie McEwen

Bike: Ridley

Lampre-Farnese Vini: Italy. Lampre is a manufacturer of prefinished steel sheet materials. Farnese Vini is an Italian winery. The team lost some major stars after last year’s tour. Lampre was temporarily suspended from the UCI earlier this year.

Top riders: Damiano Cunego, Alessandro Petacchi

Bike: Wilier Triestina

Liquigas-Doimo: Italy. As its name implies, Liquigas is a provider of liquified gas products in Italy. The team’s lime green jerseys stand out in the peloton. Co-sponsor Doimo is an Italian furniture maker. The team took 7th and 9th places in last year’s Tour, and Ivan Basso won this year’s Giro de Italia.

Top riders: Basso, Roman Kreuziger, Franco Pellizotti.

Bike: Cannondale

Milram: Germany. Milram is the brand name of the German dairy company, Nordmilch. Their jerseys feature spots like those seen on cows. This will be their last year as a team sponsor. Last year was a bad one for Milram, with only nine wins all season. The team will concentrate on winning stages, rather than the overall Tour.

Top riders: Gerald Ciolek, Nikki Terpstra, Linus Gerdemann.

Bike: Focus Izalco

Omega Pharma-Lotto: Belgium. Omega Pharma is a big Belgian pharmaceutical company. In recent years, they’ve used names of their products, such as Davitamon and Silence. Lotto is the Belgian national lottery. The team lost its biggest star, Cadel Evans, to BMC, and is not considered as strong as in past seasons.

Top riders: Jurgen Van den Broeck, Charlie Wegelius

Bike: Canyon

Quick Step: Belgium. Quick Step is a Belgian laminate floor covering company. Secondary sponsor Innergetic is Europe’s leading manufacturer of latex foam mattresses, toppers and pillows for the bedding industry. Their big star, Tom Boonen, will not ride the Tour because of knee problems, and Tour of Flanders winner Stijn DeVolder was not picked for the Tour team.

Top riders: Sylvain Chavanel, Jurgen Van de Walle.

Bike: Eddy Merckx.

Rabobank: Netherlands. Rabobank is a Dutch cooperative bank, mostly in agribusiness. They’re set up as a federation of credit unions. Their top rider, Russian Denis Menchov, has won two Vueltas a Espana and a Giro de Italia, but this year is just getting over a bout with the flu. Still, the Dutch have a strong team for the Tour.

Top riders: Menchov, Robert Gesink, Oscar Freire.

Bike: Giant

Radio Shack: USA. Radio Shack is the American retailer of electronics. This is the team’s first year; it was formed after manager Johann Bruyneel jumped from Astana and took Lance Armstrong with him. It’s their goal to win the Tour this year. But it’s also Armstrong’s last Tour.

Top riders: Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden.

Bike: Trek

Saxo Bank: Denmark. A global investment bank, Saxo Bank is in its last year of sponsoring a TdF team. Always considered among the best teams in the Tour, they’re gunning for an overall win this year.

Top riders: Frank and Andy Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Jens Voigt.

Bike: Specialized.

Team Sky: England. Sky is the brand name of News Corporation’s satellite TV networks in Europe and Asia. The company injected millions of dollars into the new team, and is considered a real contender.

Top riders: Bradley Wiggins, Edvald Boasson Hagen, and Simon Gerrans.

Bike: Pinarello Dogma

Pick your favorites — the Tour starts Saturday!

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Those Bike Team Names – 2010 Version – Part I

06.29.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 13 Comments

Hey, the Tour de France is just around the corner! It starts Sunday Saturday. Each year, I like to introduce Bike Noob readers to the teams in the Tour, because their European corporate sponsor names are probably unfamiliar to most Americans. This year is interesting, because of several new teams in the Tour, and four U.S.-based teams. Lance Armstrong rides in his last Tour, and just might contend.

Twenty-two teams are riding this year. Today, we’ll profile half of them, by alphabetical order. The remaining teams will go up Thursday.

AG2R-La Mondiale: France. Ag2r Group is a French-based interprofessional insurance and supplementary retirement fund group, and the La Mondiale Group is a French-based international group for supplementary pension and estate planning insurance. Rinaldo Nocentini led last year’s Tour for eight days.

Top riders: Dimitri Champion, Nocentini, Nicolas Roche.

Bike: Kuota

Astana: Kazakhstan. Sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Last year, the team had trouble making its payroll, until the Kazakh government stepped in. The Tour’s defending champion, Alberto Contador, rides for Astana, but half last year’s team bolted for the new Radio Shack squad.

Top riders: Contador, Alexander Vinokourov.

Bike: Specialized

Bbox Bouyges Telecom: France. Bouygues is a mobile telephone company. Bbox is the bundled Internet, TV, and telephone package offered to Bouygues customers. Last year, Thomas Voeckler and Pierrick Fédrigo won stages of the Tour.

Top riders: Voeckler, Fédrigo, Pierre Rolland.

Bike: Colnago

BMC Racing Team: USA. BMC is a Swiss bike company. The team is brand new, having competed in some domestic races last year, but won a wild card berth to the TdF this year. They’ve made their presence known in some of the earlier races this season, and have a strong stable of riders.

Top riders: US Champion George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan, World Champion Cadel Evans.

Bike: BMC

Caisse d’Epargne: Spain. The team is registered to Spain, but the sponsor is the fourth-largest French banking company. Their top rider, Alejandro Valverde, is suspended for ties to doping. Still, Caisse is always one of the strongest teams in the Tour.

Top riders: Luis Leon Sanchez, Juan Mauricio Soler, Juan Jose Cobo.

Bike: Pinarello.

Cervelo Test Team: Switzerland. Cervelo is the Canadian bike company. The team made quite an impact last year, when it debuted in the tour.

Top riders: Carlos Sastre (2008 TdF winner), Thor Hushovd.

Bike: Cervelo

Cofidis: France. Consumer Credit. Le Credit En Ligne (online). Offers customized consumer loans either by phone or over the Internet. The company had planned this to be its last year, but now will be around through 2012. They are probably the weakest of the French teams.

Top riders: David Moncoutie, Samuel Dumoulin, Amaël Moinard.

Bike: Look.

Euskaltel-Euskadi: Basque. Basque telephone company. Euskadi is the Basque word for Basque. The Basque Country is an autonomous region in the north of Spain. Basques are ethnically different from Spaniards, and there’s been some separation sentiment for years. Euskaltel is the unofficial national team of the Basques. The team is known for its strong mountain riding. Team leader Mikel Astarloza is under a two-year doping suspension.

Top riders: Samuel Sanchez, Amets Txurruka, Egoi Martinez.

Bike: Orbea.

Footon-Servetto: Spain. Footon makes insoles to correct bad posture.  Servetto is an Italian wardrobe company. The team was formerly Saunier-Duval, which got caught up in a doping scandal. They claim the jersey is gold – most observers regard it as nude.

Top riders: Martin Pedersen, Michele Merlo and Manuel Cardoso.

Bike: Fuji

Francaise de Jeux: France. The French national lottery. This team has been around since 1997. The team had a good year in 2009, but couldn’t win the big one, and are under some pressure to win their own country’s big race.

Top riders: Christophe Le Mevel, Sandy Casar, Thibault Pinot.

Bike: Lapierre.

Garmin-Transitions: USA. Garmin is the top maker of GPS gear, Transitions makes eyeglasses that shade with the sun. The team won 29 races last year.

Top riders: Tyler Farrar, Christian VandeVelde, Robbie Hunter.

Bike: Felt

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