This one speaks for itself

Mavic R-sys Fuckup

Kimmel just pointed me to the VeloNews story of a post recall Mavic R-Sys wheel spontaneously imploding. Turns out that one of those wheels happened to fail on a VeloNews editor.

I have had a certain opinion of Mavic for a few years, that opinion is that Mavic makes mostly crap and the whole reputation of the company somehow still gets by on the quality of the Open Pro rim. Other than Open Pros, I no longer buy their stuff. But this R-sys debacle is just frigtening. Most damning to me was the following quote from the article.

Although Mavic representatives were careful not to draw conclusions — none of them saw the accident — it was suggested that perhaps rider error could have caused the wheel to fail through a loss of control.

The author appears to have done the due diligence to find third party accounts to determine that it was not rider error but I really don't care. It should be impossible to get a bicycle wheel to fail like this. There is always going to be rider error. I was in a P12 race last weekend where the rider on my inside hit his pedal in the final corner and kicked his back wheel up. We all kept sprinting like it never happened. Is that considered rider error? If his wheel had failed would Mavic have thought that was okay?

In my road racing career I've had my wheel kick out from hitting a pedal more times than I can count, I've had to hop curbs and sprint up sidewalks to avoid crashes, I've hit potholes head on, I've had peoples deraileurs in my spokes. During all that time I never crashed and none of my equipment ever failed.

Japanese Pursuit Team

"If my sleeping in entertained them, they were in for an even better treat from the Japanese team pursuit squad. Pursuit events are not usually a Japanese forte, but the team was on the line and ready to give it their best. They shot off the line at sprint pace, sustained it as long as they could, which was about two laps, and then just got slower and slower. In the end their heads were bobbing up and down. When they finished they were so done that they just collapsed on their backs in front of my stand. The best was yet to come as one of the men managed a gasping request to their coach, who pulled out a pack of cigarettes and gave them one each."

- Graeme Obree, Flying Scotsman

Twins

There's something about identical twins that's just hot. These babies are gonna be sooo much lighter than the single speed commuter bike I was racing last year. Look! they even have derailleur hangers.

Oh, and they're the first blue Stigmatas eveeeerrr.

Track Fights Update

Thanks to all our loyal Track Fighters, but we're going to be calling off the rest of the spring series. We've had a lot of fun, and some great workouts, but they seem better fitted to be a fall-only series to get 'cross riders tuned up for the season.  Keep your eyes peeled for start dates....heck, post here or email us directly with your suggestions for start dates. 

Thanks again!

 

Tonight's Race is on

Looks like it's drying up out there and the forecast doesn't call for rain for the rest of the day so I think we're good. Not much wind either so it'll be good racing conditions. I gotta go rock-paper-scissors against Kimmel to see which one of us gets to race tonight.