Lisa, family Bertucco (Marc, Sarah, Peter) would probably be interested in joining the crew in a rental house...of course, we've got a dog. And I'm sure that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. I can't remember now where we stayed last year, but it was, I'm sure a boring snoring hotel.

http://kissenacycling.vanillaforums.com/discussion/20/buy-sell-trade-and-loan-a-kissena-marketplace-for-parts#latest

Posted my cross bike over on the buy sell thread. Check it out if you are interested.

Wake up early tomorrow!

Registration for Nittany opens at 7am Wednesday the 7th!

https://www.bikereg.com/Net/8th-annual-nittany-lion-cross-mac-series-race-1-2-also-uci-c2-both-days

Damn! Totally forgot about 7am registration. 3 hours in, and it looks like I'm in the third and fourth rows. Well, certainly a lot better than last year.

Good beginner's primer

Jules said:

Good beginner's primer

http://www.cxmagazine.com/newbie-news-tips-starting-cyclocross-noob

Let me add, one fairly specific pointer if you are just getting started in cross, regarding equipment.

This may sound obvious, but if you are buying MTB/cross shoes, buy ones THAT FIT.

Don't do what I did and listen to bad advice about getting shoes 1/2 size bigger so that you can fit thick wooly, multiple layers of socks. The reality of most of the cross season, is that the weather is quite nice and you'll be racing in standard cycling sox. And even on those nasty chilly days, you are wearing slightly thicker, wool/warmer cycling socks that will fit just fine in your normal shoe size.

I'm about to plunk down between $100-$200 on a pair of shoes that actually fit for this season; plus a new set of cleats, plus shipping. Money I wouldn't have had to spend had I not been an idiot.

(now booties...you may want to size up on booties so that they can fit over MTB shoes. I notice some pros, throw on booties during the warm-up laps on really nasty days--which are not that common)

Heads up!

PatrickG said:

Heads up!

Registration for Providence opens this Monday at noon

http://providencecrossfest.com/providence-cyclo-cross-festival-registration-opens-aug-12/

Cat 4s, don't worry about running out in the middle of your Monday afternoon status meetings. This race, as most of the New England Shimano/Verge series races, uses crossresults.com for call-ups.

Clinic #1 information.
Date - Saturday August 24
Time - 8am at Grand Army Plaza, 9am at Cunningham Park Tennis courts (Union Tpke and Francis Lewis Blvd). Look it up on a map, I'm on my phone here. Then we cross the street to the field at 199th street and union.

What you need. CX bike. Spare tube. Helmet. Water and food.

What to expect - a ride leader will guide you from gap to cunningham. At Cunningham you will learn and work on mounts and dismounts, bike handling, race strategy, and so much more! Figure two hours of working on how to ride your bike better. Sounds repetitive because it is. You need to practice and this is that practice.

Myles will be there too!

Then we go home.

We are also contemplating another clinic on the Sunday at stillwell woods. This involves getting transportation out there so it requires logistical planning.

Please start to mark your calendars and post that you're coming.

Eric

I'll be there 

I'll be there too

I picked up my completed bike yesterday from Ride Williamsburg where they built it up for me.

Eric I'm in.

@rick. Don't worry too much about looks. Do the bars spin freely? Your hands won't go in that area so it shouldn't be a big deal.

I also am in for the clinic.

Rick Perner said:

I picked up my completed bike yesterday from Ride Williamsburg where they built it up for me.

I played around a little bit with it last night in the park near my house.

This is my first cross bike. Am I right in thinking that the shift cables/housing look too long out in front of the head tube? They felt like they were in the way when I was messing around carrying it etc? 

Rick, it depends.  I typically leave the cable housings long when I get a new bike because I'm not sure if I'm going to raise or lower the stem.  Raise mostly, as I usually start with it low.  So I have the housing long so I can accomodate raising the stem if need be.  

mugwump said:

 

settle into its ferrules, . . .  

 Are you serious?

@JP and Michael

Eric, I'm in

dstokes said:

mugwump said:

settle into its ferrules, . . .  

 Are you serious?

yes.  In the imperfect world we live in, bikes are often assembled quickly and not all pieces mate as they should.  To that end, cable housing is not always snug in the ferrules, either out of laziness or super-tight tolerances.  And yes, you'll notice when the bad shifting comes on, which is inevitable.  No doubt you've heard of "cable stretch." Having used Nokon cable housing, I think that housing compression or the settling I described above, is a bigger factor.  But you are correct if you're thinking that it will only make a difference of a few mm.  

Purdy is adamant that "cable stretch" is a myth and the only phenomenon is ferrules not properly seated in the frame/shifters - not the ferrule/cable junction.

Well, my ferrules are always well seated!
And I DO believe in cable stretch, because when I simply replace a cable into well-seated housing (don't touch the housing), then there is a period over which the cable seems to get longer and longer.
Mind you, I usually use cheap cables.
And I do also do the monster pulls, though they make me a little nervous for some reason. Maybe because I'm reading a novel about Grendel.

There was a magnificent animated story about Grendel done in the 80's told from the monsters perspective. I can still remember him coming home minus one arm... sad.

Kinda like returning froma KCC hammerfest...

'Grendel', by John Gardner. That's the one!
At the moment, he has just started tearing up the meadhall.

And the advice the dragon gave to Grendel:  "Find a pile of gold and sit on it."

But I guess this might be off-topic . . .

In an attempt to get back on topic,

Rick Perner said:

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing I guess esp when it's acquired thru youtube instructional videos etc. which is where I learned that some people carry their bikes with their arm in front of the head tube  rather than under the down tube. 

I should've been more specific earlier. My concern is that since I don't know which method I'd prefer I'd like the option to try them both. The extra cable housing/slack acts as something of a barrier to me getting my hand around the head tube and reaching the left handlebar. I also saw some pics of cross bikes with all the control cables really tight against the down tube/under the stem conjecturing that perhaps that was to facilitate the head tube carry.

That being said I did see a video that was somewhat dismissive of the head tube carry saying the vast majority of people carried their bikes under the down tube.

@Stokes I'd go for it.  You can inspect the braking surface and decide for yourself if it's "too much" wear after each race.  I can't imagine you're going to materially shorten the life of the wheels with the dozen (?) races you are likely to do this year.

dstokes said:

But I guess this might be off-topic . . .

Grendel's Den is only 27 miles from Gloucester, so I'm calling it ON TOPIC!

Here's something crazy to consider...

We all know that effectively the big kick-off to the cross season is at Nittany on Sept 7th? Right? Anyone who has been there knows that the Nittany course is LITERALLY (old school real definition in use here) in the backyard of the T-town velodrome. What I only fully realized last weekend was that on Saturday Sept 7th there is ALSO a day of "Master's and Rookies" track racing...starting at noon. Hours after the finish of my cx race.

So while I don't have a cx pit bike, I may, nonetheless be bringing two bikes out to the race(s) that weekend!