Alpenrose, Portland, Sunday 10/7/07-- the people's Speedvagen debut.
Finished building my Speedvagen at 10pm Saturday. What better way to break 'er in than a race the next morning? Saw K-Murder and his Grayvagen surveying the course as I was going hypoxic. Saw a Surprise Me rig out there too racing A's. Some pics I've grabbed from OregonVelo and BikePortland--two sources with some of the juicier stuff... Curious for cross in Portland: no mud!
More detail shots of mein Vagen coming soon.
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21 comments:
andy did you just get a single ring setup?
aye. 1 x 10. (oooooh, look at that subtle numerology thing: 1 + 10 = ??) yeah!
there are stops included to run a front der though too. very sleek, centered under the downtube.
so tomorrow's your big delivery day eh? i havent been as excited about anything bike related as when i picked up mine. reminded me of what a goob i am. get ready to dork out.
oh yeah...i smell another youtube video coming. so did it come w/ a hat and t-shirt?
Andy - How was your race on Sunday? Thanks for posting the photos from Alpenrose.
my race personally was good! grouped into the field of 120 other people... sort of unremarkable (top 50%). but i do tend to start off sorta slow and work my way up into the top 48% by the end of the season...
:-O
but seriously, the bike-- i know there's the new bike factor, and the sacha factor, and the speedvagen factor, but the thing felt really really good. a perfect blend of opposites: easy and quick to turn, super stable at high speed; balanced, neutral; efficient but truly honest to god comfortable. i could see getting old with this rig. it is more than i deserve, way beyond MY capabilities, but i totally utterly appreciate it (if that makes any sense.)
it's gonna get me to 11. MY 11. which is maybe 8 to other people, but i'm cool with that!
i owe sacha and scott and k-murder some westmalle tripel. i haven't been happier with a new bike ever.
Some Pics over on have-a-snack!
How do I post to the flickr set?
Ah, most righteous.
Looks like you got those pics up on Flickr which is awesome. Another Speedberth!
Sweet TJH.
My first "real" riding of the Speedvagen will be tonight at our local cross practice. I also get to show off my elevenness to the Seattle cyclocross crew. As far as I can tell, I will be the only person racing a Speedvagen in our series.
Speaking of eleven, running a single speed I have one chain ring + one cog. 1 + 1 = 11
happy 11th of october. treat your Vagen to a Mud Bath!!!!
Getting Married in Milwaukee, WI this saturday. then off to paris for our honeymoon. the Bride said i couldnt bring my SV with.:( thats OK. We Have a Date At the halloween cyclocross race. see yall there!!
ok andy/fixie. I want pics.
I took th vagoddess out today for some hot laps on my local course. I know it well so it's a good testing ground. I must say, the vagen was up against some tough competition. I've been riding Steelmans for 7 years and love them. Sacha tweeeked two things for me, the TT and the BB drop. Both were a very noticable improvemnt. The front end was nimble and I could flick it around easily, yet the lower BB let me hit the corners harder and was much more stable on fast dismounts approaching barriers. That coupled w/ the tubing/trinkets/paint just send it over the top. couldn't be happier. I'll post a lengthy review after next weeks race. no races for me this weekend. Got some wierd bug and have dropped a few pounds. ugh.
TJH - You got it. Our next race is tomorrow. I agree with you on the front end response. Very quick, I definitely need to get the feel for the way the vagen handles. I got some good practice in on Wednesday (on the course where they run Starcrossed) and everything felt amazing! Now let's see if I can take that out to the races tomorrow...
It was Anti-Cross weather up here in Seattle today. Sunny and mid-60s. I'll enjoy it while I can... I finished 14th today. Up 5 spots from our first race of the season. Or maybe it was 15th up 4 spots from two weeks ago. Whatever, it was better and that is enough. I'm still trying to recover!
I posted some photos to the flickr page. Check them out to see me and Sparklese in action.
Pics are due...now...but I've been consumed with work and sickness lately. Feel awful. But I *did* race on Sunday; the venue was too good to pass on. Again, the Vagen came with the Love; it's definitely pushing me towards my 11, which is probably closer to 7 for most of you fast guys. I am sure paying for it today and probably all week; we're due for real cross weather from now on-- rain, cold, mud, ravens(?)-- which is nice. Stay tuned for pics tonite hopefully...
Get better soon A.A. I've got the crud as well. need to get better FAST. So where are all the other speedvagens?
Dissapointed but not surprised that this blog has ground to a screeching halt since you got your bike.
andre, glad that you noticed (in a way!) i've been down with the flu for 2 weeks and yes, the speedvagen has been getting little attention in that time. i do have some pics i can put up here and will hopefully do so later today. in the meantime, do check some of the other linked blogs for more Vageness. (scrambling back to 11...)
Andy - What's up? How was your race yesterday?
I raced in the Master 3 45+ category this weekend due to an afternoon commitment that interfered with the single speed race. I know, hard to imagine something taking priority over Cross Racing, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. At any rate I slogged it out and finished 14th.
Oh, one more question - what did Sacha name your Speedvagen?
posted a loooooong one over at have-a-snack....
tjh nailed it on the ride report. couldn't have put it better. well said!
no racey for me last weekend; decided to let my barely-there reserves build up for this week (for work). it was hard to turn this one down, cause i heard after the fact that it was a great course.
i did go for a little 2 hour spin just to get the beasties out of me lungs. lordy. after the first hour, i gotta say i felt amazingly good though and was not kind to a riding buddy who normally outdoes me on hills routinely. i'll take it.
hopefully more to report this weekend... later dudes.
p.s. my vagen has the name 'andy a' on it. no idea who that clown is.
I love the red salsa levers...I'd hijack that if I didn't have mavic in my veins. Thanks for the pics. Loved the essay on laatse rhonde!
cheers
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