July | 2016 | Steve Tilford

Chris Froome one the uphill time trial a couple days ago at the Tour. He decided to ride a full aero setup, one with a disc wheel and tri-spoke in the front. Most of the other top ten guys decided to go for weight. I was thinking it was a good decision, watching live and that was confirmed at the finish.

I have to assume that the bike he is riding is at the UCI weight limit, so the “extra” weight of the wheels is only going to affect rotating weight. And as long as he kept his efforts consistent, the changes of speeds would be insignificant compared to the aerodynamic advantages.

The wheels make a huge difference. Much of the increase in racing speeds during my career is because of much faster wheels. I’m not sure why the other riders didn’t realize this too? Froome said – “I think that was a big part of today’s stage, selecting the right equipment,”

In the time trial, Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha, stopped and did a bike change. That is a lot of time to give up when the TT was so short. You’d think that all the main contenders would have been on the same page equipment strategywise?

The fastest wheels I’ve ever ridden are tri-spokes. I raced them on the road when I was on Specialized. Then Hed took them over and they are even faster, and lighter.

Guys talk about the weight, but the H3 carbon tubular is around 1500 grams. The wheels are so fast and that weight is completely within a light road setup. For sure any time trial situation.

It’s hard to believe that Steve Hed has been gone for two years now. Time passes so quickly. I didn’t realize it had been that long until I saw an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune about Ann Hed, Steve’s wife.

It is a pretty good article about her history and the continuation of their business. Here is a link.

Ann sponsors Gwen Jorgensen for wheels. Pat and Gwen live in MSP, so that relationship is local, which is super cool. Hopefully, Gwen has good luck in a couple weeks and can have a good race in Rio, the focus of the last couple years of competition.

Anyway, my advice is to get the best wheels you can. A “bad” bike and fast wheels is way faster than a super bike and crummy wheels. It isn’t brain surgery.

Ann Hed leading their company into the future.

Tucker looking all noble.

It seems like I’m ripping off my tubular road tires and glueing on cross tires continually. Or vise versa. Now that the Tour is finally over, it seems like cross season is just around the corner. Especially since the first two World Cups are here in the US the third week of September. That is less than 2 months away. Cross Vegas is Cross Vegas, but JingleCross being in September could be a whole different race.

I never really thought of the road season being done after the Tour, but during the last few years, I start hearing people talking about cross just about now. I’m always thinking, no, it is only July. But if you want to be going good for cross in September, then you should probably get on it a couple months before?

I really haven’t done anything. I’m feeling crummy and just trying to get better so I can actually train and not just ride around. I has been so stinking hot here the past week, that I don’t think anyone could feel normal doing more than a couple hours. I know that is the situation for me when I start going downhill physically at a steep rate after about 45 miles.

I did get out the cross tires I plan on racing in Iowa. I got some tires for Nationals last year from BelgianWerkx. They are FMB, with mud tread. I wanted to get some with the PRO casing, but they were out for the season. I don’t think I need the beefier sidewall for JingleCross, since I don’t think it is going to be close to as muddy as it has been recently. If you’re looking to get some super race tires, you’d better order them soon. Here is a link to BelgianWerkx, which have a great relationship with Francois (Mr. FMB), thus they have access to a wide variety of tires.

Jinglecross is just the next weekend after Chequamegon this year, on September 22-24, with CrossVegas being the 21st. I doubt I’ll go out to Vegas. I swore that race off quite a while ago. Nothing against the race, it is super fun, but the soccer field where they hold the event is poison to my body. I think I’ve done the race 3 times and each and everytime I am coughing like crazy after and get a lung infection.

I have to take back that I haven’t been doing nothing for cross. I’ve been walking Tucker in a big park by my house and have been running up the hill there, barefoot. Just a couple times every walk. I am pitiful, but it is at least something.

Okay, just a post to get you thinking about fall and cross. It comes up so quickly.