Day two and we slept in like a couple of dorks waiting for some cartoons. The smell of trails in the air finally roused us and we hoped in the car this time for a new treat “Nebo Ridge”. The Nebo Ridge trail is about 8 miles away from the state park, and holy @ #$# is it worth the drive, or ride as we should have done in the first place. The plan was to take Nebo, to the Hickory Ridge Trail system (45+miles of multiuse trails), and then back to the car on Nebo. Initially the first couple of minutes on Nebo were a little suspect. Hoof marks and some wet ground made for slow riding. As fast as it started the trail began to get better and better. And we climbed and climbed, for close to 10 minutes. Once we got to the top it was big ring ridge runnin for about six miles. At the southern end of the Nebo Trail, we headed towards the Hickory Ridge Trail section. A little turned around, we asked Larry the cable guy for directions (he really was a cable guy, the name is a guess) turns out the trail was just up ahead and as soon as it started we began to rethink the decision. With no way of knowing what trails are good or better for bikes we hoped on the first one we came across, and it was bombed out and bad. Hoofs everywhere in the mud and crud. The first dirt road we came to we decided to take it to another section of trail so we could get back and break camp. Shortly into the #9 trail, I felt the sudden panic of a stick in a wheel and I put the white knuckle deathlock grip on the brakes. Not before the derailleur was snaped off and thrown into the wheel. None of the tools in my back pack were of any use. The only thing in there worth it’s weight was a can of Bud Light. We promptly drained it’s contents, squashed it, and reinserted the container into the pack. No help for the bike, but man I felt a little bit better with my rig in pieces. Seegs, however, did have the necessary tools all in one handy Park tool that he got on clearance for $15 bucks. It was a great investment, as it respoked a wheel and converted me to singlespeed within a 24hour span. This single speed stuff is no fun when the chain won’t stay put. I’m not convinced it is when the chain does stay put, but the jury is still out on that one. So we limped back to the car took a shower and passed out in the sun with a Heineken in my hand waiting for Seegs to return from one last run on the Brown County System. I

t’s only 4 hours to paradise, I can’t wait to go back. A shout out to DaDoubleG who put a rabid wheelbiting badger hex on our trip. They came out in full force, breaking two spokes, one derailleur hanger, and snacking on an X.O derailleur. He was sad he couldn’t go so he got all unDerka with the badgers, and we suffered for it. Speaking of badgers, why cross the cheddar curtain? There are well over 100miles of singletrack options in the area, and a little beyond the area are even more trails to rail. If you go make sure you get into town before they put the place on lockdown, or you’ll be stuck somewhere between a golden arch and a gas station for dinner. Not sure about the rest of town, but the bar we watched the Hawks game at had last call before midnight. Fine with me, we were not there for the sauce, we were there for the dirt.

The start of the race was very cyclocrossesque. The front row at the race held more than a handful of the  Chi Cross Cup’s fastest. And the chatter on the line waiting for the gun was almost all cross related. As the GOOOOOO was given, we raced hell bent for that first section of singletrack on 150 yards of straight flat grass into a bottleneck, across the gravel road and into the singletrack at full military throttle. It was as fast a start as I can remember…Cross season was a long time ago, and the Barry Roubaix had a 3 mile neutral roll out… The first section of the singletrack was false flat down and twisty, into a real nice sweeping u, to an off camber speed run. And at the bottom another one of those turns that could take a whole summers worth of riding to get just right.

Time out…Come to think of it, every 100ft. there is another ‘turn you could take all summer…’ so I’ll retire that.

This trail is just a twisty mctwist, and with every twist deeper and deeper into the race your mind starts to loose focus and WAM – Tree, or to much brakes and you slideout. The off camber trails were numerous and very tricky, with little undulations that conspired with gravity to throw you off your line into the ravine below. I lost two and a half minutes per lap to the Gatto the eventual winner and two and a quarter to Yuska. In a sensation never really felt before in a race, the only times I really felt right on the pedals was on one of the three climbs on the course. Not the norm for me, but I like to sound of it. My big wheels were a little big for the over abundance of twists on the trail. Fortunately, for my handling sake, a local rider was behind me for a good portion of the race. As the race rolled on and my mind began to fade, his constant remarks about the trail were about the only thing that keep me out of the creek and on the trail. The race drew to a close and I had a few riders approaching from behind on the run in to the biggest climb on the hill. I put all the effort I could into that hill to preserve what little lead I had on a mid pack placing. I was able to hold them off until the flat grass section and then was caught. After the first rider caught me I got on to his wheel and pedaled to the line. With the line approaching I jumped past the rider and crossed the line completely spent. Hooray for 17th place, better than the placing was loosing only 3 minutes per lap to Gatto the eventual winner.

The Peoria area is host to a great selection of trails. With the addition of the Black Partridge Trails the center of the state continues it’s tradition of excellent trail offerings. If you make it down to the area don’t miss these trails.

I chose the monster.

There are those days, and they come only seldom, where the bike is brand new. The maiden voyage on a new bicycle is as close as you will ever get to that feeling we had so long ago, that first ride without the training wheels. Do we even remember it? I feel like I do but who knows what that feeling really is. It’s just a longing to know what that first time really felt like. We want so badly to go back to that day, yet riding with the abilities that we have now we wouldn’t trade for a second. Such is the first ride on that new bike. The grips feel a little funny. The shifters, while they work flawlessly, are unfamiliar in their sound and action. Subtle differences from bikes you have become accustomed to, manifest themselves as ghosts of the bike now a memory. The new bike feels awkward yet grows more at ease with every pedal stroke.

With a small window for riding I set out Sunday morning for ‘the’ ride. Short of my riding buddies not showing up in the morning it was a brilliant ride. Sure enough the awkward first glances were there, I stepped on her feet a couple of times during the first song. Those songs were generally a little slower tempo than usual, I had to see first hand how the dance was going to go. But by the end of the ride I was in tune and the trail began to feel familiar again. The switch to the big wheels is a little confusing at first. Traction is as good as they say it is. But, the Scott Scale 29er is no rickety wagon wheel bike. Short chainstays, a stout front end, and a bottom bracket close to two inches lower than I was used to make this a far more agile bike than I had expected. It’s not superlight, but the bike is noticably lighter than the Implant it replaces. Thanks to Get A Grip, the sizing is feeling right, it’s only one ride in, but so far I love the bike. Level 17 Derka. This is my first “race” bike in almost a decade. Ohhh I can’t wait to toe the line with it.

Now, if only I could get El Maya and Nevada to answer the alarm clock, maybe this video will help.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Derka Derka!

Why Buy?
Buy purchasing a jersey or both jersey and shorts – you are helping us provide some sweet returns for the dirtbag community. The more we can sell, the better obviously, and though it may seem like a mad money making profit scheme, the reality of it is – well, it’s not. The jersey and shorts are well priced quality pieces of gear from Verge Sports that should provide you hours of comfort in the saddle these coming late spring, summer, and fall months of Chicago. Proceeds from this and other sales will help ‘The Bonebell’ create opportunities to give back to organizations such as CAMBr and the Chicago Cross Cup. You would truly be supporting the dirtbag community. Show us your love and support and we promise to keep The Bonebell tollin’ for all things off-road and keep the information keepin’ on flowing through the web to keep you informed about dirty shenanigans in Chicago.

Spread the word – buy a jersey, or a full kit, it’ll make you look like the coolest kid on the block. We most likely won’t reproduce this kit again – so get it while it’s available for order! We’ll be spreading the word, and we hope you spread it with us!

New Contributor

Julia Daher is our new dirtbag contributor for ‘The Bonebell’! She is local phenom on the dirt and the entire Bonebell Crew have been most happy to have gotten to know her and have her travel with us on various off-road excursions across the midwest. She is incredibly enthused about preaching the off-road cycling news to not just her teammates, but to all women who are interested in knowing, learning, and trying off-road cycling out for the first time. Us men in the crew, try as we might, can’t always deliver the best perspective that is best served undoubtedly by a gracious dirt bag-ette. We’re not sold on the ‘bagette’ part – but we’ll leave that up to Julia to conform a new word to the dirtbag lexicon that means awesome woman dirt bagger. Expect upcoming articles from her very soon!

Incredible Performers
To say that they performed well would be an understatement, period. I am pleasantly surprised, and was at times shocked, at how resilient these wheels are. A sub-1500 gram set of wheels makes me wince, regardless of high falutin’ claims of how strong their materials are, or how particular the spokes are laced to increased strength, blah blah blabbity blah. No matter how strong a wheel is built, when it hits the sub-1500 gram range, there is a compromise. There is an amount of restriction that exists that is hard to quantify, but understood by how you should handle them and what you know you may or may not be able to get away with. I showed both sets of wheels no mercy. I was relentless. My weight hovered in the low 160 lb. range throughout the season and I manhandle my bike in tough situations and definitely put a stressful demand on my equipment. These wheels survived what I put them through – the tests were real world racing conditions, and I have, in no particular order:

Crashed them so hard in a crash that had my bike flown over my head and had the rear wheel bounce at least 3 feet into the air on landing.
Run into a curb, and blew my tubular out, and then rode the rear flat tire on the rim, for 2 miles on mixed terrain.
Rubbed tires with other racers and crashing as a result.
Powered through deep sandpits.
Powered through peanut butter mud.
Slammed a front wheel into a barrier at full speed (10mph) and flipping over the barrier.

In spite of the serious hits and crashes I gave these wheels – the net mechanical effort to fix wheel issues was a mere few seconds. That’s right, nothing happened to the wheels of great significance. 1-2mm of adjustment was provided to both rear wheels. The front wheels were spot on to the very last race. Braking surface was fine, on one set, a bit of a groove formed on the carbon, most likely due to when I rubbed someone else’s wheel. The spokes were in excellent to still new condition. The hubs were slightly gritty, but easily cleaned. The rear cassette bodies were dirty, but required perhaps one or two new bearings on one set due to grittiness not surprising as a result of the sand and mud mixture endured. Justin McCormick was definitely impressed more than I was for the amount of mayhem I ran on what is rightfully considered a roadies dream wheelset. The HED Stinger 60s get a serious 5 derkas for not only surviving the Chicago Cross Cup and the US Gran Prix series, but for doing so with showing very little wear for their performance.

Chicago Deep Dish
I am a believer in deep dish rims for cyclocross. If anything for two reasons. The stiffness is incredibly noticeable and provided the control for my handling that was incredibly impressive. I didn’t fear leaning in and taking digs on the corners, they took it and carved me into turns with great control. The idea that deep dish rims don’t help through muddy or sandy conditions is most definitely a myth. I’m not the fastest guy on the race course no doubt – but anyone who saw me plow through sand can attest that I had absolutely no difficulty maintaining a good line, and more importantly, quickly navigated through thick sand easily. I felt the greatest advantage to be in the climbing ability as they were so incredibly lightweight, I had no problems spinning these up the short climbs and paying less quadricep effort to maintain speed. They definitely kept me rolling strong for when I doubled up on race day – I could keep a consistent speed with these flyweight wheels. I repeat my sentiment from Part 2 of the review that the only thing holding these wheels back, was me.

I was most impressed and shocked to find out that after the big tire blowout at Woodstock, and after riding it a full 2 miles on the rim with nothing but rubber pressed against the rim to protect it, the rear wheel required but 2mm of adjustment. The rim was not marred, thanks to the tubular being wider than the rim, and the rim itself didn’t have any damaged at all despite how hard I jammed it into a concrete curb. That is impressive. I’ve done far more damage with lesser hits on an aluminum rim with clinchers, but that goes to show the benefit of a strong carbon profile (deep dish) and a tubular will do for you.

The blowout resulted with a tear in the tread – but – a pinch flat that leaked so much it looked like a jet blower in a hot tub when placed in the sink (see below).

The set with the Flying Doctors, will need a new set of tubulars. I destroyed the rear tubular and its beyond repair. The front has life in it but the unfortunate mold syndrome atypical of cotton tubulars has begun to set-in. A lesson learned about when to apply the sidewall protectant on – sooner at the start of the season. The glue job was incredibly well done and kept throughout the entire season, and in fact, may be the reason for such a successful ‘blow-out’ as it were, since the tire stayed exactly put to protect the rim. The rhino set did show some signs of the glue coming off at certain sections, but nothing major or beyond that. They held well and never squirmed or gave me an indication while riding that they could come off. They did their job great!

The hubs are incredibly easy to take apart and service – after a full season of abuse, the grit inside the rear hub was minimal and only required the replacement of two bearings – not bad considering the amount of sludge, sand, and mud they faced. Check out the inside below.

The wheelsets are enjoying some time off – and one set is being cleaned up and will soon have road tubulars glued on, I figured I ran them through this much abuse, I want to know what its like to ride on tubulars on the road with aero rims. I’m sure I’ll feel as fast and as zippy as a fred on a road bike who doesn’t have a clue of what he’s in for. The one thing I do know for certain is that, they will see the cross circuit once again this coming year, and I have absolute faith they will do just fine, once more called to action.

I’d like to thank the following people, without which this review or experience would not have been made possible for ‘The Bonebell’.
Emanuele Bianchi
Steve Hed
Justin McCormick
Alfredo Ruvalcaba

For more information on these wheels, please visit HED Cycling. For more information on a mechanic’s perspective on these wheels, visit Johnny Sprockets and get in touch with Justin and Alfredo.

We don’t doubt that if you live in the metro area of Chicago, you’ve must’ve seen an iGo car around a train station, in your neighborhood, or at the grocery store. iGo Cars have been serving Chicago since 2002 and their membership and availablility of both cars and locations has grown tremendously. The Bonebell, specifically El Maya, has been using iGo Cars for the past several months to good success. The family car may need to be used while he needs to get to a race, a trailhead, or whatever. The notion of two cars in the city isn’t entirely feasible for many reasons, but an iGo membership can be that extension when you need it in a pinch.

Heading to the trails isn’t exactly easy by public transportation – but it can be done. Sometimes, time is your greatest limiter and having a car to go to Palos directly after work, or going to the Des Plaines River Trail without spending an hour on the bike coming from Logan Square, is a very welcome benefit. If you don’t own a car, what’s a person to do. One can consider an iGo Membership. The availability of different rate plans allows for some flexible options to meet your needs. The average cost of renting an iGo car is $7.00 an hour that includes gas and insurance during prime time hours or on the weekend. If you get a ride buddy or two, you can have them chip in to help out and further reduce your cost in hitting the trailheads at Palos. There is a 2010 Subaru Legacy you can rent from downtown even – talk about a test drive to the trails in a car that supports I.M.B.A. that’s also fun to drive!

Pick-up locations for iGo cars have been expanding well into the nearby suburbs such as Skokie, DesPlaines, Wilmette, and Forest Park. This further extends the opportunity for those communities to take advantage of an iGo car that is most always conveniently located next to public transportation. There is also future opportunities for more nearby communities south and west of Chicago to be part of the iGo experience.

Here’s another reason to consider iGo cars – if you join up the remainder of this month until January 1st - you basically get an almost FREE membership. Your sign-up fee is only $25.00 if you join before January 1st, and you get 3 hours of driving credits for free. The 3 credited hours alone practically pays for the sign-up fee. When you sign up – make sure you mention ‘The Bonebell’ as to who referred you. Any additional credit hours we receive, we’ll donate back to a lucky member who signed up during this trial period referring to us to further sweeten your deal.

…all things look like its only me holding myself back because these wheels are definitely meant to kill cross races

So how is my blingtastic journey of deep dish heaven faring for me? Well, the wheels definitely catch the stares of many on the race circuit and practice and give my overall bike the pro-quality that far exceeds my actual racing talent. They are, by and far, the most attractive part of the bike with a $300 set of Dugasts glued to each set. They don’t just look pretty but I have found they performed incredibly well in just about every condition I have put them through and I have yet to come up with a complaint about how they react in the rain, the mud, the sand, and straight up rocks, yes, I said rocks. I have now raced these sets of wheels at 7 races and 4 practices. I have been merciless and purposely have not thought about being particularly careful with the wheelsets as I preferred to concentrate on racing and not any possible fragility with this lightweight wheelset. HED claims that they’d perform on or above par with their competitors, and given that I don’t give obvious abuse to the carbon rims and spokes, I have ridden them as any racer would expect to race them.

I am now at race weight – approximately 161 lbs. on a good race day. I believe weight is an incredibly important factor for wheelset reviews to get a true impression of what abuse they are facing when being pushed to their limits. Weight is also an indicator of what tire pressure will be run, in turn dictating what protection, if any, is the tire providing the rim over various terrains. The Dugast Rhino sets are being run at 31PSI front and 32PSI rear; the Dugast Flying Doctor sets are being run at 32PSI front and 33PSI rear. The cotton tubulars are very sensitive to pressure changes and is an artform in of itself to find the right pressure. I find the pressures I’m running on the HED wheelsets are considerably higher than what I ran the same Dugast tires on my old Mavic Kysrium ES, which was about 28PSI front and 30PSI rear. Yes, pressures do change depending on course conditions – and these are averages based on what I raced on so far this year. This is an item to note because I realized that I can run a higher pressure on these sets of wheels with the same tire most likely due to the rim profile. The HED wheels have a wider rim profile than the Mavic’s by 1-2 mm depending on which specs you read from Mavic. This makes a difference in contact patch with the tubular tire and its placement on the rim. The wider rim also allows for a wider displacement of that volume of the tire on the rim – meaning, higher pressure in a tubular will yield a similar footprint as a lower pressure in the same tubular on the smaller rim profile because its stretched out by that extra 1-2 mm in width.

I am a mountain biker through and through, so I tend to corner in an exaggerated fashion really leaning on my tires to take me through the turn. I am a fan of low pressure to achieve the best amount of tire contact with the ground, especially on leaning turns to avoid braking and carrying through on a nice apex of a turn. With the HED wheels, I was able to particularly carve this style with aplomb and really trust that the wheel remained stable under front weight load carving into a corner, when it matters the most. The tire did its job to claw into the terrain, but the wheel’s job is to maintain that rhythm and stability through the effort – especially when out of the turn when a quick few pedal strokes demand extra speed and torque off the rear end. I had taken turns on several occasions (DeKalb and Madison come to mind) where my line threw me into the path of tree roots and I blasted right over the roots and definitely felt the thud of the rear wheel as it landed squarely on the top of the roots. It spun through fine and continued its performance. On one occasion, in a typically tired moment of racing, I had neglected to lift the front tire well enough to fly over a barrier, and I clocked it square on feeling a vibrating thud emanate through the front end of my bike and yet, I still managed to leap on and continue the race without issues.

Of particular note, I recently read up on CX Magazine on their article of riding through sand and was interested in their conclusions about the deep rim mythology and its performance in sand. I have to add to their assessment. I believe that the analysis is probably true for what they reviewed, a CX bike running at 15mph coasting into a sand section. I tested this theory at speeds of 18-25mph into a sand section and including mud sections. I firmly believe that deep dish rims offer a ‘control’ advantage that is not felt with a box rim. At the US Gran Prix in Louisville, I was faced with a morning full of deep mud – 6”-8” of mud in many sections and these sections were sometimes immediately following a straightaway where speed could be wound up quickly. With the HED profile, I could slice through the mud quickly and maintain my trajectory far better than I would’ve with box rim profiles – this also meant carrying through momentum better and increasing the speed out of the sand pit or mud pit. This is definitely an advantage. If you are going 15mph ‘coasting’ into mud or sand – then perhaps yes, its negligible, but the speed variable has a definite effect, the faster you roll through it, the more chance your trajectory will be carried through cleanly allowing the rim to do what can do best in a mucky condition. The advantage lays in the amount of speed you not only carry through the mud or sand, but how much momentum you keep going – so you’re hauling through these sections applying some torque to keep the groove going. The control factor is when the front rim slices through the mess and the rear does the same while giving you the ability to apply a steady cadence and momentum through it. If the wheels wander – which they did on a couple of occasions, regaining trajectory was not hindered (so long as there was a clear space on either side of me). What about all that mud weight? Even with the amount of mud that the rims accumulated at several races, the braking surface was still usable and easily managed through the toughest conditions. This was a very welcome observation – my brakes weren’t useless on an incredibly wet and dirty carbon rim. The pads I use are the SRAM labeled Swiss Stop Yellow pads. I had also used the salmon colored TRP pads previously, and though they worked relatively well, they squealed something awful on the HED rims, they did stop squealing as much after a day of breaking in but still were too noisy for my tastes. The Swiss Stop pads appear to function very nicely with the HED rims. Mud did not stick to the rims and add pile-on mud at the rims surface or even at the minimal surface where the spoke meets the rim. This was a welcome feeling as carrying as little mud as possible in an hour sufferfest is a very nice thing.

Justin McCormick has been reviewing the wheelsets carefully after every race – analyzing stress points, spoke tension, tire mounting, everything that should be carefully reviewed after a stressful day of laying it on the course. The great news is that, after all these races so far, in both wheelsets combined, a total of 1.5-2mm of adjustment was made to spoke tension. They keep their true incredibly well. They’ve been rolled through thick mud which is a tension sapper for any wheel due to the amount of stress you place on a wheel to navigate through the muck. They’ve hit tree roots and an occasional rock on the course – at times when I hit them I winced after hearing the carbon rim ding against the rough surface. They’ve traveled in a car trunk with a half dozen other wheelsets, in a truck bed, and on roof racks in the rainy road trips. They clean up easily and the last inspection after the most recent race even had the hubs opened up for a simple regrease, and they weren’t entirely in need of it and the shells were clean and incredibly great condition despite all the grit they’ve endured recently.

These wheels, as I repeat my self-deprecating observation, are definitely made to hammer beyond my ability. They spin up very fast, maintain speed easily, and I haven’t found an aero benefit to them on a cross course. I have found a great sense of control taking corners hard, climbing, and torquing them as any racer would do in a hard cross scenario. They are bonafide stiff carbon wheels that definitely transfer power to revolutions and are surprisingly quiet compared to other carbon deep dish rims I’ve heard whiz around the course. There isn’t a sense to baby them in the least – and I have crashed on them on the rare occasion, and they’ve survived just fine taking a sideways slide on a grassy course. I even dared to bunny hop over several trail obstacles at practice and landed squarely on both wheels – no worries at all, not a singular creak or squeak were complained from the set. I have at least 5 more races to go before Montrose in the Chicago Cross Cup. The weather is turning foul, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the rims when the weather gets cold and the ice comes out. The final segment of this review will be had after that time – a full season’s analysis of what they did and didn’t do, and so far – all things look like its only me holding myself back because these wheels are definitely meant to kill cross races.

I’m a relative newcomer to cyclocross, having only started to participate in the sport 4 years ago. Last year was the 1st year I dipped my toe into the realm of actuallly racing a cyclocross bike and purchased a Santa Cruz Stigmata. I figured a dreamy race bike, is deserving of a buku wheel set. I bought the Mavic Kysrium SL Tubulars and had Justin McCormick glue on a set of Dugast Flying Doctors. Needless to say – I was racing a thoroughbred that far outweighed my own pedigree! I did learn quite a bit about performance cyclocross bikes, wheelsets, and tire choices after racing and training on the bike – as did my fellow B’beller, Nevada Dave, who raced with my bike four times, once to victory. My big take-away, wheelset and tire choices definitely make all the difference in the world when it comes to improving your bike’s and your own handling ability on tough courses in cyclocross. Tubulars have been debated among racers, new and old alike, as to their perceived difference. I won’t bore you with that debate – google it yourself – but know that I firmly believe that tubulars are the ‘only’ way to go if you are serious about racing cyclocross. I went tubeless when it wasn’t the rage for mountain biking, and I’m still running UST tires with sealant and couldn’t be happier since almost six years ago. It was only obvious that I would have a love affair with tubulars.

Off with my HED!

Thanks to my affiliation with xXx Racing-AthletiCo and the very generous sponsors at HED – I scored two sets of HED Stinger 60s to race on for the 2009 cyclocross season. They are a serious step up from my Kysriums, which are still a phenomenal wheelset to race on. My knowledge of carbon deep dish rims is limited to what I’ve read online and shared with teammates and fellow racers. I remember an early morning conversation with Ben Popper on the lakefront bike path last year in which he divulged the secrets of deep dish rims and sand – all I could think of was, “wow, I just want to pedal as fast as you!” He made some relevant points that never left my head as I kept hearing the same advice come back from various sources. Carbon rims – are stiff, are lightweight, and give you more control with the right set of tires glued on a typical cyclocross course with off-cambr turns, rutted grassy sections, and mucky mud lines or sandpits.

This review will be a 3 part series simply because – I can’t give an honest to goodness opinion based on just looking at them and reading web information. This is the introduction part. Part 2 will be how they are holding up mid-way through cross season after 6 races, and Part 3 is at the end of the season to see how they performed overall in all the race conditions I threw them at which include two Gran Prix Weekends.

Glue Method 1 and Glue Method 2

Alfredo Ruvalcalba from Johnny Sprockets has been gluing tubulars for over 25 years. Justin McCormick is newer to the tubular gluing game and is himself, no sluff to proper servicing of anything on a bike. Thanks to Justin, I survived an entire racing season on last year’s set with no issues at all. They both offered up a different gluing method for both of my sets of Stinger 60s. Alfredo offered up the glue only method, and Justin, did the glue and tape method. Both are considered absolutely acceptable methods of applying tubulars to carbon rims – but both do offer a slightly different feel for the way the tires contact and hold the rim. I don’t know the difference off-hand, but I aim to find out throughout the next few months and report back in Part 2. The Stinger 60s are ridiculously light. They are a claimed 1326 grams for the set. With the Dugast Flying Doctors – they come to 2290 a set. This weight savings in the rotational department is the name of the game for hardcore speed throughout a 40-60 minute effort.

I had e-mail conversations with our HED representative through xXx Racing, in addition, to their technical representative who both have assured me that barring that I don’t do the obvious abuse that would harm ‘any’ wheel – racing on these wheels should be absolutely fine. They are built to withstand a lot of punishment in road racing and training circumstances, and despite cross racing’s demands, they should withstand the off-road fare with equal aplomb. They did note some Category 1 and Pro level riders are racing on Stinger 60s (note: I’ll investigate a list of who exactly). There is an obvious caveat with any fine wheelset in that – they must be treated with finesse and definitely lend themelves to shine under riders who are excellent bike handlers and can be light on the pedals and thoroughly agressive ‘with grace’. I have been riding a fully rigid hardtail for almost 2 years now and have come to appreciate fluidity through well picked lines as opposed to bashing a path through the singletrack – this is what I mean by aggressive with grace.

How well will these wheels perform? I’m taking them to my first training practices next week and I am sure I will be most impressed. They will debut on race day at the U.S. Gran Prix in Madison, WI for both weekend dates. I do know that I am in love with Dugasts and firmly believe that they can only enhance the experience of a stiff, lightweight wheelset, that should deliver me across the line safely and hopefully, legs willing!, to some decent finishes. If you would like to see these wheels up close and personal, by all means, see me at the sidelines and ask away, I’ll give you a full on the spot opinion of how they’re performing.

Part 2 will be published in October before the Grand Prix in Louisville, KY. If I have a stronger opinion on them then – you will know about it.

The beautiful gals above are gleaming with the excitement they experienced at the annual xXx Racing-AthletiCo event called ‘Take A Roadie Off-Road Day’. This event was created by xXx over 7 years ago and last year it was resurrected from the traditions of the original dirtbaggers. All year long, roadies work hard to keep the rubber side down on the tarmac and worry about the slightest bump, sewer cap, line into a turn – and nary a thought goes to the real obstacles that exist out there in the dirt world. This event was created for dirtbags to show roadies their mettle and gain their allegiance to the dirty world perhaps even give up a few road races for a few more dirt races. This year an outstanding number of xXxers showed up to test their will and agility in the woods we hold dear at Palos. I believe at last count we had 18 riders total. Here’s to hoping we get at least 1/4 of that group to come to the dark side next year.

Subject: Stiggity
Stiggity will have to explain the shenanigans held after the Pre-Palos Meltdown with the roadies. In fact Stiggity – has a lot of explaining to all of you. More to come on Meltdown-alicious news.

Also Coming:
HED Wheels Review – A three part review that will take the course of the cross season. Oh this is going to be fun!

What I first noticed about the way the bike felt was how every position on my bars was viable. As I said before my previous position was all clown shoes. When I went back in my head and analyzed my thoughts on my positioning on the bike, all of them were negative. Now, there is a fluid feel to being on the bike. None of the positions on the bars beg me to go somewhere else. The shorter stem has increased the how quickly it responds up front, noticeably changing the handling for the better. It no longer feels like a school bus in tight situations. Everything is more relaxed except the ability to apply power.I don’t have any long days in the saddle, but I am yet to feel any of the aches that I occaisonally had previously. My clown shoes style fit I had, is now the bicycle fit equivalent to a carbon soled SIDI. Having just done the ride to Michigan on a different bike, those aches came back, and I have no choice now but to mimic the fit of the Nova for the Tarmac.

Sean Palmer charges $150 for the fit. This is the biomechanical portion of the test. He will go through the various body tests, range of motion, skeletal tendencies, and personnal preference all go into the final dimensions for the new setup. You won’t find  a better deal in town, with others charging upwards of $300 for the service. And that’s not Cookoo town, were talkin’ right here in Chicago. The part of all fits some don’t realize, is you will probably have to buy some new stuff. I had no idea how crucial the shape of the handlebars are for proper fit. With the wrong bending in the right places some bars can become incompatible with a bike for optimum results. I needed a new stem, and bars to make the switch complete. Not to worry, it’s not like a fist time appointment at a chiropractor. You won’t be signed up for a years worth of visits in advance. Just take into account that you will probably need more to spend more than just the price of  the fit. It will be well spent. Tell him ‘The Bonebell’ sent you and he’ll knock something off the top of the fit. Adios back ache hello big watts…