#258: Rocky Mt Stage Race….10 minutes too long
Went down to Shreveport with Dale and met Frogge down there. Frogge and I raced in the 1/2/3 race. The road race went pretty well, I felt pretty good and covered some attacks and initiated some others but didn’t get in the correct ones. Pack finish for both Frogge and me. A total of 9 riders were off the front or way off the front, leaving the field over 6 minutes behind.
The second stage was a time trial along the river in Shreveport. Had some issues with my TT bike lately (seat clamp fell apart the week before, derailleur hanger was being held in by the skewer, etc, but in general everything was all set). After my disappointing performance at MSGP (at least it was to me), I wanted to roll a good TT. I ended up at 10:46 a few seconds off the time Frogge posted. I don’t think it made much of a difference, but my saddle was way back from where I set it before the whole seat clamp issue. Eventually, I will get my TT bike setup correctly and keep it there! Our TT times put us 16th and 17th in the G.C. Okay, but not where we wanted to be.
The final stage was the circuit race down an underdeveloped industrial park that allowed the organizers to close off a L-shaped boulevard. The course was this L-shape with two 180 degree turns at either end. Seeing the course, I expected the accelerations were going to be tough, in that respect it didn’t disappoint. I felt pretty good after the first couple of laps and started to get a bit more active in the race… it might have lead to a few times when I got gapped off the field out of a turn-around. But I was able to recover and get back into the mix.
At just after 60 minutes of the 70 minute race… it happened…. I was headed around one of the 180 degree turns, maybe a bit more sharply than before as I got more bold….bam. I hit the ground. I rolled my front tire. Race over… nice gash on my forehead, a few other abrasions, but other-wise okay. DNF for me. Frogge finished with the field.
W.r.t. my tire…. This year I am learning to glue on tires after a 1-1/2 years of using Tufo Extreme Tape on my other wheelset. My concept was by gluing up all road season long, I would get practiced enough to glue on cyclo-cross tires. The procedure I used was the one on the Park tools website, but it is pretty much the same as others I have seen. 2-3 coats on the rim, 1 coat on the base tape, 1 fresh coat on the rim and you are done. Thin coats was the advice. The front tire and my first rear tire were glued using this procedure and probably (apparently) too little glue. I had since flatted out two rear tires and now I am on my third rear tire, each glued using more and more glue. The front is the same. At this point, I haven’t done the whole post-mortem, got back to Memphis just in time to get stitched up at a minor medical place before they closed.
Dale had a pretty good weekend and gained some great experience. He is just starting out racing (as a cat 5). He has done races but they have always been spread out over time. His circuit race turned out to be pretty epic with 50°F temperatures, wind, and driving rain. Everyone stayed up in his circuit race. If it wasn’t for my front tire, the 1/2/3 would have had a safe weekend. I am sure glad I didn’t take anyone else out.
I took photos of the Cat 5 race. Dale took a couple photos of the Cat 4 race and a bunch of the Cat 1/2/3 race.
I just pulled your tire off & inspected your rim. Looks like you got lucky- it’s hardly scratched.
Comment by Andrea — May 18, 2009 @ 6:27 am
more and more glue=more and more bad. cyclocrossworld’s stu thorne gives one of the most precise accounts of properly glued tubulars here – http://www.cyclocrossworld.com/Tech.cfm?Action=Edit&MenuKey=3&theKey=46&ShowDisabled=0
Comment by marshallbrent — May 18, 2009 @ 2:07 pm
Hey, glad your OK. Check out Velo News for the gluing thing (www.velonews.tv) they have a 4 part video.
Also I use Fast Tack and have had good luck with it. Usually I put enough glue on the tubular tire tape for the glue to soak into the tape (this usually requires 2 coats) And I put 2 thin coats on the rim to make sue it’s completely covered. The trick is to get enough but not too much (it will squeeze out and make it messy). You will not have tons of time with fast tack so it all has to be done relatively quickly. Then air it up to max pressure and let it set 24 hrs usually is good for RR’s longer for Crit and Track. Thankfully I haven’t rolled any tires and have using Fast Tack for 3 years now.
G’Luck, see you at the races soon.
Comment by Brooks — May 20, 2009 @ 10:15 am
Based on this experience, I have a couple findings. I wasn’t using enough glue. Since this was the first tire I ever glued up, I wasn’t very good at it. ;-P
Method that failed:
Reynolds 46DVT wheels (new) + continental rim cement (tubes) and Continental Competition tires.
2 coats on the rim and the 1 on the base tape (all to dry)
1 coat on the rim, mount tire immediately.
Inflate to pressure, wait to cure.
result: after 6-7 races (several crits and a couple road races), rolled the tire. The glue looked a bit thin in places after the roll off. Edges were not apparently adhered.
Method on remount
Same wheel and tire (both in great shape still).
Add coat of glue to base tape and the wheel, let dry for an hour.
Add a fresh coat to tape and the wheel.
Mount (very messy!)
Inflate to pressure.
After 24 hours, deflated and checked that the edge of the tape was securely glued all the way around on both sides. After this inspection, I am confident that this gluing will hold up. Re-inflated after this for storage until this weekend (West Feliciana Classic S.R.)
Comment by Ryan — May 20, 2009 @ 11:58 am