The Numbers Don’t Lie

Racing is so much more than numbers. It’s long miles in the winter. It’s spontaneous city limit sprints. It’s the loan of an inner tube when you flat, for the second time, 50 miles from home. It’s hanging out on the couch after one hundred miles in the brilliant February sunshine, watching whatever video we could find under the cushions. Racing is the experience we share every time we saddle up to cruise around Lake Washington or, as we did so many sweet times this summer, work together to put the rest of the field on the defensive and in the pain cave.

A big thanks to our sponsors for their faith in the Recycled Cycles Racing vision. A big thanks to our friends and families for letting us walk through the door, an hour late, dripping wet and covered in grit. And a big thanks to our teammates, who keep us encouraged, humble, and motivated to put up a season like this.  

Recycled Cycles Racing 2009 Results (Abridged)

ROAD event	rider	category	result
Ice Breaker TT
	Adam Kaufman	4	3
Frost Bite TT
	Adam Kaufman	4	6
Mason Lake #1
	Randy Salamon	3	2
Mason Lake #2
	Luke St. Clair	3	8
Mason Lake #3
	Adam Jablonski	3	9
	Tyler Blake Davis	4	10
Tour de Dung #1
	Randy Salamon	3	2
	Luke St. Clair	3	3
	Josh Simpson	4	10
Tour de Dung #2
	Adam Jablonski	3	7
	Tyler Blake Davis	4	2
	Josh Simpson	4	7
	Jason Guyer	5	6
Volunteer Park Criterium
	Pauh Wang	3	5
Brad Lewis Memorial Criterium
	Tim Ellis	Master A-B	5
	Brian Wachlarz	3	2
	Randy Salamon	3	4
	Adam Jablonski	3	7
	Adam Kaufman	4	7
	Jason Cameron	5	8
	Todd Schneider	5	10
Green Valley TT
	Luke St. Clair	3	4
	Chris Tremonte	4	4
Tour of Walla Walla
General Classification	Adam Kaufman	4	5
Road Race	Adam Kaufman	4	6
Time Trial	Adam Kaufman	4	6
Vance Creek RR
	Adam Kaufman	4	3
Glenwood-Longbranch Omnium
	Luke St. Clair	3	1
Glenwood Road Race, State Championship
	Luke St. Clair	3	1
	Steve Williams	3	6
Longbranch Road Race
	Luke St. Clair	3	6
Wenatchee Omnium TT
	Adam Kaufman	3	10
Mutual of Enumclaw Omnium
Omnium	Adam Kaufman	3	10
Road Race	Adam Kaufman	3	6
	Luke St. Clair	3	10
	Kevin Speltz	5	6
Time Trial	Adam Kaufman	3	8
	Josh Simpson	4	10
Second Ascent Twilight Criterium
	Adam Jablonski	3	2
Ravensdale-Cumberland Road Race
	Brian Wachlarz	3	6
Capitol Criterium
	Adam Jablonski	3	1
	Steve Williams	3	7
Boston Harbor Circuit Race, State Championship
	Josh Simpson	4	8
Kirkland Criterium
	Josh Simpson	4/5	3
Boise Twilight Criterium
	Adam Jablonski	3	1
Lake Washington Velo Circuit Race #1
	Nick Adsero	3	2
	Josh Simpson	4/5	2
	Kevin Speltz	4/5	8
Lake Washington Velo Circuit Race #3
	Nick Adsero	3	4
First Rate Mortgage Season End Classic
	Adam Jablonski	3	1
	Steve Williams	3	3
	Jason Cameron	4/5	4
	Josh Simpson	4/5	10
	Jason Cameron	Master C-D	7
Blackberry Criterium, State Championship
	Josh Simpson	4/5	3
Seward Park Series Overall (6pm race)
	Adam Jablonski	3	1
	Pauh Wang	3	3
Pacific Raceways Series #3
	Adam Kaufman	1,2,3	1
Eugene Celebration Stage Race
General Classification	Adam Kaufman	3	7
Prologue	Adam Kaufman	3	5

Track (Go fast, elbows out, don’t crash)

FSA Grand Prix
Omnium	Nick Brown	3	1
Points Race	Nick Brown	3	1
Points Race	Nick Brown	Masters 35+	5

Mountain

6 Hours of Addison
	Brian Wachlarz	Open Solo	2nd
Indie Series #4, Leavenworth
	Alex Wilson	Expert Men	2nd

  Triathlon (Let the record show that someone on RCR knows how to swim.  Pretty well too.)

 

Pacific Grove
	Chris Tremonte	Pro	7
Seafair
	Chris Tremonte	Pro	1
Kirkland
	Chris Tremonte	Pro	1

Check back at the end of December for 2009 cyclocross results!

 

A Night at the Raleigh Mothership

On October 6, a contingent of Recycled Cycles members traveled down to Kent to visit the Raleigh mothership.  RCR and Raleigh go way, way back.  Ever since anyone can remember, the team has been winning races on Raleigh bikes and it looks like a relationship that isn’t going to end anytime soon.  Diamond Back, our other hosts, have signed on to sponsor the MTB section of the team.  It’s a good deal all the way around.  They get a team that will race the hell out of their bikes on the road and in cross season.  We like riding something that is designed in our backyard.  They listen to our complaints and praise, and they even come on rides with us sometimes.  I wonder if the company president will join the Meet the Team Ride again this year.  And they gave us cool t-shirts.

 

Our host, taking a handup.

The purpose for the meeting? The 2010 Raleigh lineup. There are some exciting additions to the Raleigh line.  I won’t comment on everything; there are a lot of bikes.

The tunnel of tubes.

The new team frame tubes are HUGE.  The down tube is nearly the size of Jeff’s calves.  The chain stays are thicker than most downtubes.  The UCI commisaire will have to inspect it for the proper aspect ratio.  And somehow, it’s lighter than the old one.  They’ve included every 21^st century specification available: BB30 bottom brackets, tapered steer tubes with 1.5 inch crown races. The fully-built Team bike wouldn’t look out of place on the ProTour: Sram Red group, FSA cockpit parts, and Mavic Ksyrium SLs.  

Always store your cyclocross bike with a light, protective layer of mud.

The RX1.0 is so popular it’s sold out.  The team contributed to this.  They should have more by November.  They made some very tasteful component choices this year:  The Easton EC90 fork is replaced by the much stiffer EC70, eliminating the dreaded fork chatter and resultant control loss. Also gone are the Shimano Tiagra parts, replaced by SRAM Rival, the go-to gruppo for the budget-minded racer. That is to say, it’s perfect for cyclocross. And the paint job looks fabulous when bathed in mud. 

Cobblestones are calling baby! Just add 27mm sew ups.

Steel’s resurgence as the material of choice is complete, much to Nick Brown’s approval.  Raleigh is producing a bunch of steel bikes this year, including the Clubman, a very sharp-looking and nattily attired general purpose road bike, and the re-birth of the Record Ace, a sleek, lugged steel road racer invoking images of Moser or Museeuw, tearing hell-bent across Europe’s windswept farm roads. But unlike Francesco and Johan, you’ll have 10-speed Ultegra channeling the power and a Brooks saddle caressing your hide.  I’m excited to ride both of these bikes.

No chain fuss, no chain muss, no messy chain cleaning brush...

I played with a belt-drive bike – the Alleyway. I predict belt drive adoption will go through the roof when people realize that it’s light, clean, and reliable.

With those Di2 levers, I bet this thing shifts perfectly every time.

When they weren’t looking, we fondled the Shimano Di2 levers.  Paradoxically, they were installed on Raleigh’s Interbike single speed cyclocross showbike.  The ergonomics feel good to me.  It’s like shifting with a calculator, but not in a geeky kind of way. They wouldn’t show us the SSCXWC prize bikes.  I know Sally was holding out. 

My MTB knowledge is really thin, so for what it’s worth:

I appreciate that Diamond Back ignored the trend to build everything in carbon and instead focus on making their aluminum dual suspension frame lighter and stronger.  And in real life, 29er wheels are huge! I hear these are the new rage.  RT raced one all summer and says he’s sticking with the big wheel.  I think I might give one of these a try this summer. 

Raleigh’s XXIX PRO is fully equipped with SRAM XX and many other choice bits. The frame is 853 for dent resistance and wears discs fore and aft to ensure you can check your manic speed before tossing it into the next bend.

For anyone into retro, and who isn’t sometimes, there was a Raleigh SS 29er with a neon green paint job.  I’ll bet you could find some Vuarnet sunglasses on eBay to match it’s disco inspired paint job and go bomb down Mt. Tam.

Stay tuned for a report from FSA in a few weeks.  I will ask the question on everyone’s mind: “Where’s the road group the press was all a-twitter with last year?”