Jacob Rathe's bike cleaning service is back, just in time for cyclocross season.  After a muddy race, drop your rig off with JR.  Pick it up later in the week and have a sparkly clean bike.  What a nice idea.

Cyclocross season is here! The rain will rolling into town shortly. The wet roads will splatter dirt, grime and grit all over your bike! Your drivetrain will seize, your brake pads will dissolve, and your bike will become unrecognizable.

WHAT TO DO?!!?
A clean bike is a fast bike and rides so much better! ...so keep it from getting destroyed this rainy season. Jacob Rathe Bike Cleaning Service will get your bike looking like it has never seen the rain.

SERVICES INCLUDE:
- cleaning (soap and water) of the whole bike
- degreasing chain
- cleaning wheels and inspecting tires
- basic derailleur tune
- lube chain and all moving parts
- Rub down with bike polish
- Suggest any maintenance or wear issues

EXTRAS:
- rim (braking surface) cleaning - $10
- tire rotation - $10
- installation of tires, stems, bars, seats, cassettes, computers (you provide) - $5-$10
- bike walking, petting, and blessing services (negotiable price)
- special requests welcome! Please ask!

WHY:
Support a junior bicycle racer,   What a  better way to help a local racer out by paying the minimal  fee for washing your bike!

ABOUT: 
Jacob has been racing bikes since he was 10 years old, now  17 he has many years of experience working on his own  bikes. His wash shop (house) is located conveniently in SW Portland near Alpenrose Velodrome.

COSTS:
$35.00 a bike (road, mountain, cross, track, commuter etc) 

HOW TO SCHEDULE: 
1. Email (JRBCS@comcast.net) or call 503-348-0945
2. Drop off your bike for service
3. Pick up the next day! (same day service available - please inquire)
4. Ride hard and fast on a beautiful bike!

With my cyclocross season starting next weekend, I managed to come down with the crud.  Not feeling so hot right now, so I took a pass on this weekend's pre-season races.  I suppose it's better to get it now rather than mid season. 

I haven't had much time to ride this week, but I have been able to sneak off into Forest Park a few times. I've been riding this silly thing for two weeks:

I'm really liking the single speed, but I'll still prefer racing with gears next weekend.

Yup, they beat USC.  Ah yeah!  Go Beavs!

Man I love Cyclofile's movies.  Here's one from Cross Vegas, and that looked like one wild event! 

Don't miss Adam Craig's flubbed bunny hop!

Spooky, Empella Frogglegs and earlier TRP cyclocross brakes are great.  They stop well, and have a LOT of rim clearance.  That's good for preventing mud clogging, and keeping you rolling if your wheel gets knocked out of true. 

All of these "Euro" brakes use a similar type of brake pad with a non adjustable straight post:

This, along with the wide profile cantilever design, make dialing in these brakes a little more challenging than others using adjustable v-brake pads (e.g. Avid Shorty).

Geometry
The geometry of a wide profile cantilever brake is different from a low profile brake.  Sheldon Brown had a lot to say about cantilever brake geometry, and it's well worth the read!  But note most of the setup tips are geared towards low profile cantilevers.  With those, a longer traverse cable gives more pad travel, but less power.  It's a balancing act to get best power/travel ratio.

With wide profile cantilevers, things are different.  A very short traverse cable is not going to give you better power.  In fact, I've found it takes it away.  I've found a very long traverse cable, coupled with a wide yoke works best.  I try to set up the brake such that the pad is traveling as close to horizontal as possible when it hits the rim:

 

To do this, you adjust not only the traverse cable length, but also the pad position (e.g. how far it protrudes from the brakes).  With a little playing around, you'll find the right spot.

Toe Adjustment
Once you get the geometry dialed in, how do you adjust the toe?  Like with any cantilever brakes, you want the front edge of the pad to hit the rim just before the back.  That will help prevent chatter on the front end, and squealing on both.  Don't go crazy with toe-in adjustment, though.  A little squealing is okay!

So how do you adjust toe on a non adjustable brake pad?  With a big adjustable wrench!  Put it on the flat surfaces of the brake bolts, and gently bend.  If your frame is in the way, just disconnect the brake cable and pull it away from the frame.

Brake Pads
The pads that come with these brakes are usually kind of chunky:

It kind of bugs me.  Why do they need to be so big?  I don't believe cantilever brakes have enough power to use long brake pads as effectively as they could.  It spreads the power of more rim surface, right?  Great for v-brakes, maybe not so much for cantilevers. 

What I really wanted was to use road pads on my cantilever brakes.  And I found some from BBB.  These are nice and small, and they work a little better than the big pads I had on before.  I'm anxious to see if they help with fork chatter, too.  I'll have to wait until I get another pair for the bike that chatters.

New Offerings
It looks like new brakes are coming out that address all the shortcomings of wide profile cantilever brakes.  Take the TRP Euro X, for example.  They added some pad adjustability and smaller pads.  These looks mighty nice, don't they? Another good option - Pauls brakes. They've been around for a long time, and they use adjustable v-brake type cartridge pads.

Regardless, you can get very good results using other Euro brakes available.  It just takes a little extra tweaking at first.  Once set up, these brakes are quite reliable and bomb proof.  I've never had any trouble with them.  So give them a try!

Another update from Jacob Rathe's European Jr. National team race campaign. This time, he's racing in Croatia. Go Jake!

Kroz Istru (Tour of Istria)- Croatia September 19-22, 2008

After a successful, and confidence-boosting experience in the Basilicata region on Italy, the 6 of us on the US Jr. National Team are traveling to Croatia to take on a international field. The last Nations Cup event of the year, a 3 day stage race touring the region of Istru, of Croatia. It was another 5 hour drive from our residence in Lucca, Italy. We arrived at our hotel in the evening to find ourselves in what felt like a beautiful, relaxing vacation spot. We took a short ride around town and along the Adriatic Sea. The sun was setting and the deep blue water crashed up on the jagged white, rocky shore. We all wanted to go swimming, sit by the water, and order some pizzas, but reality struck when we remembered that we were there to do a bike race. A hard one at that. We went back to dinner and experienced, our first, of many, Croatian buffet. We all ended up being true Americans by stuffing ourselves with the good food.

Stage One
Stage one was the next day. We all knew that this field would be far stronger than the Basilicata field. National Teams from 23 countries, mostly from Europe, were there. It was said to be the strongest field represented of the year, outside the world championships. The race didn't start extraordinarily well for the Americans, AJ crashed in the first 50 meters. But we made the front page of at least one paper because of it. The next interesting event occurred when a crash happened in front of me. I swerved into the bushes on the side of the road to avoid it. I never hit the ground, but my entire right side got covered in these golf ball sized sticky, pointy things. I think they are call 'burs' or something. They were stuck to my jersey, my shorts, my back. I tried ripping them off, only to get them stuck to my fingers. Only and excessive amount of shaking would set them free. For the next few K's I was at the back ripping the little plants off my body. Fling ing my right arm wildly to get them off. The other riders found it entertaining, and some even assisted me. Shortly after that, Mr. Ian Boswell broke the steerer tube on his specialized. He hit a bump, and thought his bars were loose, but it ended up being his steerer tube. Those team USA bikes have been down the road. As for the race. Instead of me being off the front, I felt like I was putting out a similar wattage just to sit in the pack.  My pack skills have far improved since the spring, as I was able to stay in the front 1/3rd, save for a few incidents. A break of 5 got up the road with world champ John Le Bon, and world mt. bike champ, Peter Sagan. It wasn't a difficult course, with lots of false-flats, and a few sustained climbs. In the end there were 3 of us in the lead group. I knew the last 1.5 k's were uphill, but I didn't know the last 200 meters were 15-20% steep. It was a long sprint.  I had a decent day and finished 19th.

Stage Two
The monster day of the race. 6000 feet of climbing in 62 miles. Save for the first 25k, It was either up, or down. The first 25k's were fast, rolling, and nervous racing. Lots of crashes, lots of attacks. I flatted 27k's into the race. 5k from the bottom of the first significant climb. Two US guys dropped back to help me, and after a pretty slow wheel change, I was back in the pack. They started hammering on the climb and gaps started to form. I kept closing them down and rolled over the top tailing the lead group. There was a long, technical decent with several tight switchbacks, and fast sections in between. The group split up again on the decent, at the bottom I had to close down a 20 second gap to the lead group. Evidence to how important it is to ride in the front. I caught on right as the longest climb of the day started. It was fairly steep for 5k, then just kept going up, up and up, for a long time. The riders at the back kept getting dropped, and ha d to keep bridging up small gaps to maintain contact with the pack. I was dropped a few k's from the top. Following that there were big rollers, and wind.  I made it over and could see the next group 40+ seconds up the road on the long straightway. I was in a group of about 10, that had less than ambitious hopes of catching back up.   I thought my GC hopes were over. Somehow we caught back on to the next group, then there was still another group up the road. I kept bridging with 3-4 other riders, from group to group. All of the sudden, I was in the same group as the rainbow stripes in the front group of 38. I was feeling good, and liked my chances in the field sprint in the relatively small group. I was in good position the last 5 k and came around the last corner in the top 10, with only 300 meters to go. Only 300 meters of steep cobbles. It was brutal. I went from my big ring, to the little ring, to first gear in no time. I finished 20th on the stage. The rest of t he team finished in following groups.  After that, I was 14th on GC, but having the same time as 10 other people. The tie breaker goes to the lowest accumulated placings. A good stage result was essential stage 3.

Stage 3
By looking at the profile, it looked like it wouldn't be too difficult. Wrong. The 4k climb right at the stage was horrendous. The 9:00 AM start was early, and cold.  I went from the front, to the back by the top. The second, longer climb started 10k's later. I went from the front, to the back again. But still in the group. Slovakian Peter Sagan was in the leaders jersey, and his team hammered on the front all day. The first 30k’s were pretty rough for me. There was a reprieve from the pain in the middle of the race, where it rolled. We had 2 more climbs after that, then 30k's of slight downhill into the finish. I was looking forward to then, but I shouldn't have. The last climb, though pretty short, split the field into several groups. The top was flat, and into a head wind, that made the regrouping that much more difficult. The last 30k's were slightly downhill, but into a headwind. And at 55-60 k/h. The 70 rider field in a straight line most of the tim e. The last 5k were pretty crazy, as you would expect. I survived the technical, fast, out of control sprint finish to get 22nd on the stage. I moved down to 15th on GC. The race was over, my season is over.  We all felt like we were on the Champs Elysees. Sort of. Only one more tedious plane rider over the pond for the year. I get to go to school now.

-Jacob Rathe

Have a good trip back, Jacob.

The first weekend of NACT took place up in Seattle this weekend.   It's here!

I lost the last remaining key to my car almost two weeks ago, so I've been doing without for a while.

The kids have soccer practice three times a week, so we've been riding there.  It's great!

The climbs are kind of tough on them, especially my 6 year old.  When she comes along, I've been using a trail-a-bike that's got two seats--a tandem trail-a-bike! 

If you've ever towed one of these things, you might have experienced the radical reduction in your ability to go in a straight line.  As you might expect, towing two kids along amplifies this.  My front wheel has actually skidded sideways while I was trying to keep the bike under control.  So when dad yells "BALANCE," he really means it! 

There have been a few moments when I was a little concerned, but they were short lived.  Reminds me of the time I was going down a very big hill, towing the kids in a trailer, and my frame broke.  "Uh oh," I thought, as my suddenly floppy bike swerved all over the place. 

When given a choice, the kids are now choosing to ride instead of drive.  I think that's great!

I can't believe this kid.  He's having some amazing adventures in Italy right now, racing for the US Jr. National team.  Give his account of Giro Di Basilicata a read, and remember he's only 17! 

Bonjourno,

As you probably know, I am in Italy. Enjoy.

Stage 1- Giro Di Basilicata

For the first few days of our Italy adventure, we stayed in the Tuscan city of Lucca. My coach, Butch Martin, named his dog after this city. It is that cool. The mountains sit right behind us and the Mediterranean 25k’s to the west. The town area is surrounded by a wall. Narrow alleys, café’s and elegant shops make up the inside. On the outside crazy drivers fly through the narrow streets. On our rides the cars are not afraid to pass even with oncoming cars. There is almost a head on collision every corner. Every time the car seems to move over just in time. Only one truck has lost a mirror.  On Thursday we drove 6 hours south to the small town of Melfi, in the region of Basilicata. The terrain consists of large rolling hills. Similar to the Walla Walla area.  This time of year the farmers burn their fields. So the air was hazy with smoke, and sometimes a fire would be burning right next to the road. Our first race was Friday, a 107k chant over flat wide open roads, a few short climbs, and one monster 20k climb. The plan for the team was to be active early, and make something happen. I did just that and got into a break 15k into the race. It was just me and a Russian for a very long time. There was a strong head wind, and since it was a point-to-point race, it seemed like we were going into it the whole time.  It was also very hot, in the 90’s. We were working well together and got up to a 90 second advantage. Half way up the long climb, which turned out to have several short downhill sections, two Italians bridged up to us. They were typical Italians and one of them wouldn’t work. So the cooperation went to hell. Our advantage got down to 34 seconds and we could occasionally see the peloton. We started to work together better and regained some time on the flats. The wind was awful, coming in on the left shoulder strong, could barely maintain 35 k’s an hour. The Russian would attack when the Italian wouldn’t work, and he did and got away. Then the problem Italian got away on the next climb and bridged up to him 10 seconds. The other Italian and I worked hard to bring them back but only got within 5 seconds on the finishing climb. I finished 4th on the day. Not able to get by in the final 150 meters of cobbles. The next group was only 10 seconds behind.  I was the leader in the GPM (KOM). I got to put the green jersey on, on the awards stage, 3 bottles of wine, and some flowers. The rest of the team did well, Nate Brown taking 5th, and all but 2 of our riders finished in the main field. It was brutal day, and two more hard days to come.

Stage 2 The Queen stage

The hardest and most technical day of the race. We started off going 5k down fast, narrow, and twisty descents. Then a 5k climb with the first GPM of the day. The team rode tempo on the front keeping me in good position. I saw the orange GPM sign and sprinted for it. It just so happens that that was the 100m to go sign. It looks the same, but says 100 mt. on it. I got that sign but not the real one. Then we descended for 30k’s. Down more narrow roads, big switchbacks, and over bridges. A short flat section later we hit the monster climb. It came 5k’s sooner than my speedometer told me it would come, and I was in the middle of the pack. They were hammering at the front, gaps were opening. I was sitting at the back of the front group of 40. I did get dropped once. But a short and technical downhill came and I got back in. I ended up making it up and over with the front group. I was the only survivor of the US team. We had another terribly long decent, right to the bottom of the last climb of the day. I lost my climbing rhythm and got dropped from the lead group of 15. I ended up loosing 1 minute on the day and moving down to 11th on GC.

Day 3

The final day of  our journey through the Basilicata region of Italy. We all woke up at
5:55 AM sharp groggy and tired after two brutal days.  The start/finish was located in the hilltop town of     ?        . Low clouds looming around.   None of us were looking forward to the 6k climb that climbed 450 meters and started only 5k into the race.  We all made it up and over without much of a problem.  Then the race rolled up and down, for a long time. Through infinite S-turns. 30k into the race it started to sprinkle. 31k into the race it started to pour. 32k into the race it started to rain harder and hail.   The roads were super slick, routinely feeling your tires slide out from under you. But, surprisingly the I saw less that 10 riders crash.  I was Team USA’s ’GC’ guy. I started the day in 11th place, 2 seconds out of 10th . With the next US rider in 24th. The top three rid ers were tied on time. I sat in the first 80k while the rest of Team USA gave the field hell with constant attacks. The rain did stop for a while in the middle of the race, only to return with 30k to go.   On the last major climb none but one of my companions remained in the lead group. The blowing rain continued. I had great legs. The last 20k was rolling through more twisty roads with the Russians and two Italian teams controlling the front, all protecting their race lead. However, with 10ks to go a group of 3 did manage to get away and couldn’t be brought back. The chase was still going strong into the final K’s of the race. I gave it everything and launched a big attack on a steep rise with close to 1200 meters to go. I hammered through the narrow, twisty, slightly uphill streets. The break was right ahead and was blown apart. I flew past the first rider, and then the second rider. The last one was a little out of my grasp. I turned the final bend onto the cobbles to see his arms go up in the air less than 5 seconds ahead of me. I was definitely happy but, as Will Frishkorn said after he got 2nd in stage 3 of the 2008 tour: “I wouldn’t be an athlete if I didn’t want to be one step higherâ€?. It was definitely the biggest result of my 2008 season. I was also proud that I didn’t crash in the 100k’s of dissents on twisty, technical roads, not flatting once with the pot-hole laden roads, and not seeing the back of the pack. Despite gaining 5-10 seconds on the main field, I still sat in 11th place on GC. Next up the Kroz Istru in Croatia. Another 3 day stage race starting on Friday. The field will be much stronger, with all national teams. Including reigning Road Race world champion John Le Bon, and world mt. bike champ Peter Sagan. Along with many more.

Jacob Rathe