Tue July 20

[Roland]

Thanks to everybody who stopped and helped me get my handle bars back on.

[Plawless]

Huh???? Wha????? handlebars BACK ON? What did you do? Pull a Hincapie?

So I now know more about why I hurt so much this am - we averaged 37.6 from the start of the ride at ParetoLogic to the Beacon Hill Sprint!

What a great ride though in the sense that I cant think of another time we went that fast but stil had that big a pack at the final sprint. (I enjoyed watching it develop ahead of me!) Kudos everyone.

After seeing Stephane go down in one of the Box corners (How are you feelign Stephane?) I started thinking about how a number of us ride corners (myself included). I cant help but think that if more of us took advantage of Lister's cornering sessions we would all gain confidence and skill and be WAAAAY less likely to crash. So? Anyone else going to read the reviews and commit to a few cornering sessions? I am in - plus I am sick and tired of doing crappy corners in races that then force me to expend a stupid amount of energy chasing back on while everyone else takes a rest and makes a sandwich etc.

Plus what is the point of having a kick ass EuroPro in the group if we dont make use of him?

[Lister Farrar]

Hope you're ok Roland. Bars coming off? Ouch. Can you post details?

What corner did Stephane fall on? First one after the sprint? I think many of us approach this one too far to the right, then try to do most of the turn on the crosswalk paint. The better line is left side down the ramp, do most of the turn before the paint, straighten up slightly (if it's fast or wet) to get throught the paint, then finish the turn after the paint. You're much less likely to swing wide into traffic after the corner.

A similar thing happens in turn three and four (two is not really a corner). We have to go as far left as possible before cornering. If a car's is coming the other way..., you just can't go in tight (right) and expect to come out tight. If you're in the inside line, gently push/suggest/signal the outside guy to go left to at least the centre line, further if nothing's coming. You can see a lot further in the approach straight than you can see around the corner.

[Roland]

Hope you're ok Roland. Bars coming off? Ouch. Can you post details?

Apparently I did a poor job reassembling my bike after coming back from Quebec. About halfway through the ride I noticed my bars were loose, as the moved up and down as I pulled on them. I pulled out of the pack and tried to limp in to coffee. By the time I'd gotten to King George they were so loose they were moving left and right. There was no way I was descending King George like that, so I waited for the 2nd group to come by and save me, as I didn't have any allen keys with me.

I've got carbon bars, so I don't like to clamp them too tightly.

[AlW]

Wasn't aware you had a mechanical Roland. I saw you going to the back of the group but wasn't aware you were having a problem. At that point I was pretty crosseyed and that would have been a convenient reason to drop off (I even had allen keys!)

Stephane went down at the turn on to Henderson (3rd one after the sprint). Overcooked the corner a tad, hit the curb and went down. Luckily he managed to find some grass to land on, so damage was minimal (at least it appeared to be).

[Stéphane Tran]

So, first A+ ride and first crash... Not sure exactly what happened, I was on the outside on a right hand corner and somehow drifted too far into the opposite curb; luckily there was some grass and no oncoming traffic, so no real damage done. As Peter mentioned I could definitely use some extra cornering practice although it may be tough finding time what with the new baby due on Thursday. In fact, this may have been my last group ride in a while. At least I went out with a bang.
On a side note, I realize I did a "no-no" up King George by riding in the oncoming lane round a corner. Everyone feel free to yell at me if I do it again!

[Lister Farrar]

I've got carbon bars.

I knew it!
On a serious note, I was looking for advice on the carbon fibre seatpost for Brian's bike ('tarzan want to know how plastic post work') and was told there's a carbon prep paste with something granular in it to provide grip so you don't have to over tighten. Would that help?

[4827north]

Yep, ya wanna use Finish Line Carbon prep paste, whatever it's called and 5 newton-meters of torques, no more no less. carbon loves to scrunch,crack and split when you torque "by feel". Ritchey makes a handy preset wrench that you can carry or toss easily into that bike travel box.