Yearly Archives: 2015

Crashfest, oh, forget it

This entry was posted in Fun Stuff on by .

I am sitting in Cable, eating pancakes with blackberries, watching the Tour de France and told Dennis, who was making the pancakes, that very soon, there is going to be carnage.  It was so obvious that…….

Okay, I wrote the whole post and it completely disappeared into cyberspace.  The paragraph above is all that was left.   I don’t have the mental tenacity to rewrite the same thing again.  I was done with it before I did it the first time.

Needless to say, the Tour was strange.  Neutralized by the organizers after a crash.  Never heard of that before.  Not sure I agree with that.

So, change of subjects completely.

It is down pouring rain in the Northwoods.  It is supposed to rain almost 2 inches today.

Yesterday was super.  Bill, Karl and I rode the Firehouse 50 course and ended up at the Rookery, a nice restaurant with an outside venue for music.  Molly and the Danger Band was playing.  Below, there is a short video of a new instrumental she is recording this fall.

I love listening to her sing.  She is so talented.  She played at Pat and Gwen’s wedding and makes beautiful music, plays the violin, mandolin, guitar, and many other instruments incredible. I could listen to her play all day.

But, we had to ride back and get back to the Rivers Eatery and watch the women’s world cup finals.  By the time I got there, the game was pretty much over.  Nice.

We moved outside and Beth told me there are a bunch of stray kittens, small cats at a house that is most likely going to be demolished soon.  So she grabbed a bunch of cooked chicken they didn’t use on pizzas and we walked over.

Two of the kittens were together, checking us out.  They are not quite feral, but close.  They will approach and I could touch a couple of them on their heads.  They don’t stand much of a chance up here, with all the predators lurking about.  Plus, the harsh winter.  Anyone need a new cat?  They are very cute.  I could catch and deliver.

Okay, better watch the end of the race.  The finish is going to be exciting.

Carnage at the Tour.

Carnage at the Tour.


Talking to Molly while she was taking a break.

Talking to Molly while she was taking a break. Dennis is looking concentrated.


Trudi soaking up some sun.

Trudi soaking up some sun.

 

Kittens. Think there might be as many as 8.

Kittens. Think there might be as many as 8.

Lawyer Tabs or Not

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I was watching the Tour yesterday and was interested in how quick guys were getting front wheel changes when they had a flat.  Some teams seem to do it pretty quickly, but for sure, there are others that have serious “lawyer tabs” on their forks, so their mechanics have to spin the front quick release quite awhile before their secure the wheel.

I pretty much hate the tabs on the forks that “prevent” your wheel from coming off, in case you forget how to properly use a quick release.  They are just a hassle.

I have ground dozens of them off of different forks I own.  Road, cross and front forks on my MTB bike.   For racing there is no place for lawyer tabs.

The rule that makes this all pertinent is the UCI rule – Article 1.3.002, which states,, “A license holder is not authorized to modify, in any way, the equipment given by the manufacturer used in competition.”

I would have thought by now there would be a fork manufacture that would produce a race fork without the tabs, but maybe that is against government law?

I’ve left my tabs on both my road and MTB bikes.  I don’t have any tabs on my cross bikes, which is strange, because those are the races where I have the highest chance of having my bike checked by the UCI.  I have ridden some UCI MTB races and no one looked at my bike there.

Throwing out the problems of removing the front wheel quickly for a wheel change or repair, the hassle of putting a bike on and off a roof rack, especially and older roof rack, is a real problem.  Spinning a quick release on a roof rack is sometimes problem, so taking a bike on and off the top of a van, ect., can really turn into a task.  That is probably what I hate most about the tabs on a fork.

Anyway, just a little short rant about a bothersome rule that really has no place in the sport. These tabs don’t add any safety to bike racing.  If anything, they add additional stress, which most likely detracts from a riders safety.

I understand the rule, I just don’t think the UCI should be enforcing it in this instance.

If I had my way, this would be the best way to deal with all lawyer tabs on forks.

If I had my way, this would be the best way to deal with all lawyer tabs on forks.