GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll

GamJams Tech: Richmond Pro Cycling Team ALAN Extreme Matrix

Richmond Pro Cycling takes pride in their role as the home team. All of their athletes live locally in Richmond, and community outreach is as central to the team's mission as winning races. It's no surprise, then, to find them on gorgeous ALANs this year. Last year the US distribution for ALAN was taken over by Stellina Sport of (yep) Richmond. Stellina has set Richmond Pro up sweet, with aluminum ALAN frames for training, and the gorgeous ALAN Extreme Matrix for business days. Here we'll look at the bike Gerardo Castro raced to victory at this past weekend's Tour de Beach.

Gerardo Castro's size small (52cm) ALAN Matrix Extreme, captured here in a rare moment of motionlessness.

First - the frame. Aluminum up front with a carbon rear triangle, which is another way of saying that riding full carbon fiber is decidedly not a prerequisite to being a really fast elite racer. AT $1550 MSRP for the frame and fork, it's not exactly bargain-priced. But once you see the construction detail I'm pretty sure you'll agree with me that it's still a solid value. Handmade in Padua, Italy from 7046 triple-butted alloy, you're getting a ton of craftsmanship and attention to detail in this frame.

Take a look at the top tube, for example. It's got the same tapering, knurled tubes found commonly on full carbon, though these are aluminum. I don't know if it's for strength, lightness, aerodynamics or some combination of all three, but I do know it's a deliberate detail that ALAN spent time and resources to incorporate, instead of taking the more common shortcuts.

Tubing has fast built right in.

Far and away though, my favorite frame feature is the lug joining the bottom bracket and chain stays. When have you ever loved a lug before? The Italians can find and inspire beauty in all things. To wit:

Bottom bracket lug is uniquely powerful looking.

The component mix is economical and smart without compromising key performance. Dura-Ace cranks and brifters anchor the gruppo, but the squad downshifts to Ultegra for the bottom bracket, front derailleur and chain. Then they go one click further for 105 brakes. Says team manager Craig Dodson about the Chinese menu gruppo, "Each rider gets 2 bikes, and it's way more cost effective vs. performance."

Admit it - from this angle you can't tell the difference between the Ultegra BB and chain and the pricier Dura-Ace.

The blue bar tape is by Deda. To me, it's more remarkable than the bars, which are also by Deda. I wonder if they got the tape the blue in the frame, or had the frame custom painted to match the tape?

The tires are by Challenge, another Italian company. If you're a roadie in North America, there's almost no reason for you to have heard of Challenge Criterium tires, much less actually seen a pair on a bike. But you probably have heard of them and you might even have seen them. They might even be in your choice set for your next pair of tires at this point. How did that happen? Two words: Sally. Snead. She's the quadriceps behind Stellina Sport's power curve, and along with the ALAN frames they also distribute Challenge tires. Both are huge in the CX world, but Stellina's smart sponsorship is giving both brands a footprint in the US road scene as well. And why not? Many of us make an effort to buy locally grown produce or seek out the neighborhood coffee shop instead of the stamped-out chain. And we'll tirelessly extol the benefits of our LBS over Massive Mailorder Bike Stuff, Inc. Why not bring that same community affinity to your next cycling purchase as well, and support the organizations that support racing in this region. By backing homegrown Richmond Pro, Stellina (like GamJams) may be banking on the ROI of grass roots support. Or (like GamJams) Sally might just really like being able to pitch in at the local level.

See the Richmond Pro Cycling team ALANs up close and personal at the US Air Force Cycling Classic, Sunday May 4th in Crystal City.

GamJams Tech: Jim McNeely's Giant TCR 2

(ed note: Normally I write GamJams tech myself, based loosely on some commentary provided to me by the bikes' owners, my inherent knowledge of bicycle componentry, and fiction artistic license. This week is different. I asked Jim McNeely, AKA The Unholy Rouleur, to give me the skinny on why he rides what he rides. My thinking is that there are some big guys out there who might leapfrog some poor equipment choices because of Jim's wisdom and experience. Jim didn't send me some crib notes or bullet points. He sent me what comes out when The Unholy Rouleur sits down to write - narratives made epic not by length alone, but from the soul breathed into them. Now I could go ahead and edit it. And as a Cat 3 with a functional threshold power that looks more like a respectable bowling score than a testament of formidable power, I could get on the phone with Fabian Cancellara and give him some Time Trialing pointers. Both seem an egregious waste of time. So here's Jim's bike, in Jim's words.)

Jim McNeely's Giant TCR 2

Mike thought some of you would find my gear choices interesting.  I'm a big boy who rides okay for a middle aged beginner with a classic linebacker's build.  I am 5'11", around 250 pounds in the best form I've achieved so far (last year in 'cross season), 10 pounds up on that right now and hoping to get down into the low 230 range prior to cross season.  My athletic background includes nearly two decades of playing rugby and powerlifting.  I'm not Bryan Vaughn strong but for power training phreaks , I was throwing CP 20 of 370 watts last year with typical 5 second power a shade under 1600.  I break things.   

Bike - Giant TCR 2, carbon fiber.  I bought this after busting my aluminum Giant OCR's frame at the Baker Park Crit in a high speed crash.  I'd heard a lot of stuff about how big guys shouldn't ride carbon, but I've found that to be crap, taking the plunge after Jon Seibold of Family Bikes in Crofton convinced me that the TCR could take it.  I have around 8,000 hard miles on the OCR and it's holding up well.  The advantage of carbon is it's easier on my 40 year-old back; in spite of the aggressive position it is more comfortable over a long day than more upright bikes.  The carbon frame also has a little flex, and wheels seem to hold up better, though I'm not thrilled with the bottom bracket shell flexing when I sprint or really mash hard on hills. If I stay Giant the next bike will be the TCR Team, with the reinforced Ulrich bottom bracket shell.  The bike handles perfectly - it is responsive without being twitchy, planted without being sluggish.

Rear wheel - Powertap Pro 32 hole, on a Velocity Deep Vee.  The 'Vee is the gold standard for durable road wheels - and I've destroyed supposedly bulletproof Open Pros and the like.  I went with the PT Pro because 150 grams of rotating weight close to the axis is kind of irrelevant for somebody my size.... I have roughly 10 hours a week to train and can't afford to be inefficient in my training, so it's me, Powertap, and Hunter Allen.  Gatorskin tires for general riding, training or racing; Vredestein Fortezzas for serious racing.  The Gators' are very long lasting and offer good traction except in the wet, and the Vredesteins offer exceptional ride quality.

Front wheel - Velocity Fusion, Ultegra hub.  Matches the Deep Vee for appearance pretty much.  It's as strong as I need a front wheel to be, aero, and a bit lighter than the Deep Vee.

Brakes - Shimano 105.  They came with the bike and frankly the 2006 105 brakes stop better than the 2005 Ultegra brakes on my other bike.  I've done "stoppies" inadvertently.

Drivetrain & STI's - Ultegra.  Ultegra is a little heavier than Dura Ace, but it's pretty stout, and I can't tell the difference in shifting except on the front derailer, and I don't much like to ride in races where the small ring is going to be needed.  A man's gotta know his own limitations.  Ultegra chain.

Cranks - Ultegra.  This is the tough choice for me.  I've shredded square taper Truvativ cranks at the bottom bracket, and busted the big rings on a Truvativ Rouleur and a Race Face Roadrace crankset.  After getting shrapnel in my leg from the Truvativ, I went with the Ultegra on the advice of Coppi prez Art Mitchell, who has similar ring-bending problems with everything up to and including Dura Ace.  I haven't regretted the choice, it's held up fine.  Jon scared me up an FSA big ring that looks like a track ring and we salvaged the Truvativ crankset, but I am always a little apprehensive when sprinting on it.  Race Face?  They weren't responsive to my attempts to write them to complain, though they kindly put me on their marketing spam email list.  I think I threw the crankset out in the end. They should probably stick to making mountain biking clothing.

Seat - stock carbon fiber seatpost, Fi Zik Arione.  I do really badly on traditional-shaped "pan" type saddles, but longer saddles that are "crowned" just disappear, and the Arione is perfect for me.  The best part about the Arione is I busted the first one and they replaced it under warranty.  This one is now 2 years old and going strong.  Word of warning - you'll either love or hate this saddle, there's no middle ground.

Stem/Bar - Easton EA 50.  I'm not thrilled with this stem; I can loosen the bars when sprinting or bunny hopping downed riders.  I'm switching over to an FSA Wing Pro (aluminum) in a week or so.  I'll look for a four bolt stem when I get a bike fit.  My other bike has an Easton EA 70 Wing, the aluminum model.  That is a great handlebar.  I'm not a carbon bar kind of guy.

Bling - Serfas carbon bottle cages.  Every other upgrade to this bike was a utility purchase, and I thought these were just luxury items.  Then I put them on and realized they work really, really well, better than standard cages.  Plus they're lighter than air.

 

Toolkit:  This matters because I break stuff regularly on rides.  Tube (in a sock, to prevent rubbing/puncture); Microflate head with two 16 gram threaded CO2 cartridges - small and efficient; Spin Doctor multitool with chain breaker which saves me every three months; Park spoke wrench (you know why); valve extender; stamped metal 4 way wrench; Skabs (not shown); Performance Hurricane HP Micro - a *great* multistage pump, actually reliably gets you to high pressure in 30 strokes or so; and a Soma steel core tire iron, because a steel core tire iron won't shatter in the cold and leave you stranded with a tight, flat Gatorskin stuck on a tight Deep Vee 5 miles from home on a 20 degree day when you're sweating and hypothermic.  Don't ask.

Philosophy: A brief aside so you get my perspective.  As a young soldier going on deployments I carried some blingy expensive tactical knives at first - muy macho, plus you need a sharp knife all the time camping.  I also carried a little cheap jackknife I'd picked up in the military clothing sales store as an afterthought.  Yet over and over again I found myself using that simple stainless $5 Army issue engineer's knife with a blade, screwdriver and marlin spike, and leaving the marquis brand knives packed away.  No bling, just a big sack full of Git 'er Done!  I pay for my own gear and look at a race bike the same way.  I adore this bike but it's a racing and training bike, a utility vehicle, a racing tool.  When it breaks in a crash, or wears out, I wont cry but will buy a new one, no big deal.  The running gear is either stock kit that has proved reliable (stem excluded, and it's going soon) or aftermarket kit that has held up to a beating, and it's good enough.  Could I bling up with some SRAM or Dura Ace?  Sure, but would it make the bike run better?  Probably not enough for me to notice, and it would cost twice as much to replace when the inevitable happens.  Some day, I'll have a nice Independent Fabrication and I maybe will bling that bike out.  But not this bike, it's a high utility knife, all function, which is how I like it.

GamJams Tech: Stu Louder's Kazane Track Bike

I'm almost tempted to call this "Stu Louder's Kazane (pronounced Ka-Zah-Nay) Speedway Bike." Sure it's a single speed with track gearing and has aggressive track geometry and those gorgeously curved track handlebars. But around here, it's going to see a lot more action on the Virginia speedways at Langley, Sonny Hutchins and Go Fast Turn Left. It doesn't make the bike any less authentic a track bike though. Rather, it makes a good case for why we all ought to consider adding a steel single speed steed to our stable. There's a whole other genre of racing out there that I know a lot of us would excel in. Love 45 minute crits, except for the first 43 minutes of them? Got off the chart 5-second, 1-minute and 3-minute power, but fold like a Dahon in a 40K time trial? Think the power-to-weight curves are ruined by the guys who train their weight as well as their power? Wish there was another State Hill Championships that let you race down Wintergreen instead of up it? Think about it - track racing, even our Nascar-inspired ersatz version - might be calling your name.

Kazane is based locally in Richmond, VA and run by Stratton Delaney. So if you haven't seen a Kazane at a track event near you yet this season, well, you haven't been to any track events near you this season. They're there, including Stu Louder's:

Stu Louder's Kazane Speedway, er, Track Bike

The frame is 4130 steel, or what you BMX throwbacks would call ChroMoly. It's not the most exotic material, or the most technologically advanced steel tubing. But it's durable as all get-out and helps keep the price really attractive - $599 for frame, fork & headset.

The frame and fork are lugged, not welded. You could fit what I know about bike manufacturing processes into a bidon, but I do feel very strongly that lugs are cooler looking than welds.

Cool lugs. Not that we buy bikes because they look cool, of course...

With twice the marketing prowess as Henry Ford, Kazane will let you have the bike in any color you want, as long as it's black, or blue. Stu's bike is the black version, which isn't basic black, but has some red flaking in it as well. The frame will be available in six additional colors by summer.

Buy a Kazane frame, get this little demon guy - Free!

During what some of us call the "off season" and others call "THE season," Stu races CX bikes for the Alan factory team. Alan is imported by Stellina Sports in Richmond, who also distribute Challenge Tires and Miche cranks. So it's no surprise to find these on his bike. The Challenge tires Stu uses are road criterium tires. The speedway surfaces this bike finds itself on most often aren't exactly glass smooth.

The Challenge Criterium tires are right at home on the speedways, as well as your fixed-gear training rides.

Like the tires, the Miche cranks are also from Italy. They're elegant and distinctive, without being over-designed or gimmicky.

Bring the bling, baby. Love that gold chain.

The seatpost is also Miche. Technically, I guess it matches the cranks. When you don't need to worry about shaving grams for climbs, or vertical compliance on long rides and rough roads, suddenly "matches the cranks" rises in importance when making componentry choices. And the Miche seatpost is lovely.

Gorgeous Miche seatpost. What part of your primary road racing bike can you select based purely on aesthetics?

I love track handlebars. No hoods, little more than a nod to the tops, these babies are all about generating pure unadulterated power from the drops. My latissimi dorsi flex just looking at them. Stu's cockpit is outfitted with with Deda - the Pista bar and Newton stem.

Aluminum Deda cockpit. Is the track the last place where carbon fiber is looked on with disdain, rather than longing?

Keep an eye open at the next Speedway race you're at for an up close look at Stu's or another Kazane. For more information on Kazane, check out Keirinculture.com, where you can also buy them directly. Or keep an eye on the Kazane Racing blog.

Thanks Stratton and Stu. Kouun wo inorimasu.

Know of another bike that wants to be profiled in GamJams Tech? Do tell.

GamJams Tech: Pete Lindeman's Cannondale CAAD9

Gas is $3.39 a gallon. The NASDAQ is off some 15% in the last 3 months alone. That $4 coffee you can buy here will suddenly cost you $8 in Canada. My 401K is tanking, and is now little more than a 200.5K. What does any of this have to do with bike racing? In times of economic turmoil, Value is the new Gold Standard. And since we're not about to buy cycling gear any less frequently, we need to look instead at stretching out our greenbacks all the way past the red kite and to the line. Yes, you can spend $5K on a racing bike without even trying. But what if you could spend only about $1K, and still get a competitive mixture of speed and style?

Turns out you can, and Pete Lindeman has. Pete contacted me last week and offered up his NCVC Team Issue Cannondale CAAD9 as an example, and I'm happy to profile it here in this week's GamJams Tech. It's smart, snappy, svelte - all for under a grand.

Peter's budget ride, artfully disguised as a competitive racing machine.

To be fair, this precise bike would be well above a grand if bought at retail. No small part of Pete's secret is to rely on pro deals from sponsors, choosing what's an insane value over an ideal spare-no-expense setup. What of brand loyalty, you ask? For my money, the brand that sponsors my club is the one to get my loyalty every time.

The frame is Cannondale's ubiquitous CAAD9, spiffed up with the custom NCVC colors. You've all seen the CAAD9, and a lot of you have owned one. It's a fine frame - full aluminum, light, stiff, responsive, perhaps lacking in some vertical compliance, but more than making up for it in power transfer. You can buy faster frames, for sure. But nothing about this one is a liability. If you're fast, this bike will let you prove it.

Budget smudget. The CAAD9 is no stranger to amateur podiums. Not because it's affordable and lots of folks have them, but simply because it's fast.

NCVC is sponsored by both Reynolds and MAXXIS, relieving Pete of the burden of decision making for his hoops and rubber. The wheels are Reynolds Solitude, which Pete describes as "light, stiff, aero and quite inexpensive." Give me that combination all day long. The tires are MAXXIS. I don't know much about them but as sponsors go they sound excellent. Says Pete, "It's amazing how much you can spend on tires through a full season of racing. Luckily we are sponsored by Maxxis, which also gives us a steep discount on their products (for road, mtb, cyclocross, even car tires!)."

The Reynolds hoops and Maxxis rubber are worthy choices even without pro deals.

You can shave some serious grams with a superlight crankset today, but the price-to-weight ratio there is usually among the steepest of any component. Instead, Pete rolls with the Truvativ Rouleur crankset, which is also marketed as SRAM Rival. Respectable in all ways, including weight and its conventional styling. And exceptional in value. Chain and sprockets are also by SRAM.

A Truvative by any other name would be a SRAM.

The fastest way to value is by shifting down one gear - from a 10-speed drivetrain to a 9-speed. 9 is still a lot of gears, and 9-speed components can usually be had at fire sale prices. Pete turns the shifting and braking chores over to Ultegra 9-speed, ample for anyone's needs.

If you can win on Dura-Ace 10, you can win on Ultegra 9. And if you're pack fodder with Ultegra 9, Dura-Ace 10 ain't gonna do much for you.

We simply can't talk about value-to-weight ratios without bolting on something by Ritchey somewhere. Pete goes with the Ritchey Pro cockpit. Aluminum bars and stem are plenty light and stiff and (I know, I repeat myself) an incredible value. In fact, any of the Ritchey lines are a great value, though if you're aiming for absolute cost the Pro can't be beat.

Look - carbon fiber! Right there in the headset spacers. And still under a grand.

Another secret to incredible value is not to replace parts that continue to work perfectly and don't yield a disadvantage due to technology advancements since their inception. Carbon fiber water bottle cages are cool, and they round out the look of more than a handful of contemporary rigs. But in truth, the number of grams they shave off of older plastic/nylon/fiberglass models you can count on the gears in your cassette. In Pete's cassette, in fact. Since 1999, Pete has been wedging water bottles into these Profile Design cages. In 1999, they were awesome. Then at some point since then, they lost much of their awesomeness. But now they're 9 years old, lightweight, retro, unneeding of repair or upgrade and, once again, awesome. I love them.

9 years of hydration and counting.


So what are we looking at here - about 18 lbs total? Sure 15 would be better, but at what price? Pete weighs in at about 170 pounds and we all know 98% of all the racing terrain around here is big ring, so 3 lbs for 3 grand isn't a deal Pete's willing to make.

Thanks Pete for helping make an important point. If the cost of entry for bike racing were actually $3K or more for a pro quality bike on top-shelf components, this sport wouldn't grow very quickly at all. So next time you see a bike that's long on value but short on bling, maybe it's worth thinking about what you'd do with an extra couple grand you didn't have to put into your rig.

Know of another bike that wants to be profiled in GamJams Tech? Do tell.

GamJams Tech: Jenny Bodine's Trek Madone 5.9

So far, the bikes you've seen in GamJams Tech are rides with a future. Gleaming, pristine, still with hints of that new-bike-smell. This week's GamJams Tech is a bike with a recent past, coupled with what's very likely a promising future. It's Jenny Bodine's 2006 Trek Madone 5.9. Jenny got famous in a hurry last year, racing for ABRT, and also George Washington University, and then the Ryan Collegiate All Star Team, followed by a stint at Toona with ValueAct Capital, and ultimately Velo Bella / Kona's Elite CX Team. This year she's racing for the CycleLife Women's Elite Team. The famous part comes principally from her GWU gig, which she parlayed into a Collegiate National Criterium Championship. She won her stars and stripes on the very Trek Madone you see here.

I like this bike. It's got soul. Mismatched bottle cages, workhorse Mavic Open Pro wheels, its fair share of battle scars and blemishes. There's not a part on this bike polished enough to cast a clear reflection, but its purpose is not to show you how good you look - it's to go fast every day, and be ready again tomorrow to go fast again.

Jenny ran out of zipties. The Trek doesn't care.

Case in point: Dura-Ace. There's a saying in the IT industry - "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." Well, it used to be a saying. I'm not sure if it still is. Dura-Ace is cycling's IBM. It works, period. Some might prefer Campy or SRAM, and there's probably one guy who will argue that Sampson is the one that finally got it right. But even if it's not the sexiest gruppo in the peloton, you just can't dislike Dura-Ace. If you've got it, there's almost no reason to swap it out.

Man those cranks are sexy stylin handsome flawlessly functional.

Jenny rocks the Time RXS Pedals this year. Time is a major sponsor of USA Cycling's Women's Development Program. I don't know if that means Jenny got them for free, or if she's giving back to the folks giving to her and her peeps. But she loves the pedals and they don't make her feet go numb like other systems she's used.

Decidedly NOT lollipop pedals.

If Comfort is King, CX is the royal lineage. Jenny's saddle is the San Marco Aspide, which she considers a cozy upgrade from the SLR she swapped out. The Aspide came from the Kona CX bike she rides with Velo Bella in the fall and winter.

35 grams lighter, or the ability to tolerate an extra hour in the saddle on a weekend training ride? You decide.

It's not the flashiest ride you've seen, but its pedigree is impeccable. After all, it is the bike that's won almost every Tour de France over the past decade. And who knows how many NRC events and MABRA showcase crits in the coming season. Thanks for sharing, Jenny.

Know of another bike that wants to be profiled in GamJams Tech? Do tell.

GamJams Tech: Jared Nieters' 2008 Raleigh Competition

The last time you saw a Raleigh moving fast, it was probably beneath John Tomac and on dirt. Unless of course you've been doing some of the Haymarket Bicycles group rides early this season. For 2008 the team has elected to go with a Raleigh fleet. That's no small vote of confidence for the veteran manufacturer, given the other lines that Haymarket carries and that the team could have chosen (including Trek, Blue, Orbea, Kuota, Kestrel). Jared explained to me that Raleigh is hoping to make a big splash among serious cyclists once again. As a Raleigh dealer, obviously Jared has some incentive in seeing them succeed. But as an elite racer and the manager of an ambitious team, he's also not about to throw his leg over anything he thinks won't help the team achieve their goals for the year.

As I was unfamiliar with the Raleigh, Jared clued me in that in many ways it's comparable to the Scott CR-1. OK, what he said was "It's basically a Scott CR-1." Normally no manufacturer likes to be defined around a competitor's brand, but given Scott's ascension over the past few years to the pinnacle of weight-weeniedom in road frames, my guess is that Raleigh won't balk at the comparison.

The frame is, naturally, full carbon and weighs in under 1 KG. The seat tube has an aero profile that improves flow over the rear wheel. Perhaps more importantly, the graphics and lines are slammin - connoting more Trek and Blue than what we may all remember about Raleigh. I wish they would have kept the head badge, though.

Can't miss those hoops, right? So I'll talk about them next. They're the bomb-proof Mavic Cosmics, which the team uses for training and racing. For verticaler courses like Battenkill-Roubaix and The Tour of Virginia, the squad will switch to Mavic R-Sys wheels. At some point this year though, the team will be trying out Reynolds DV-46 carbon wheels. Is Reynolds the new Zipp? Seems like they're showing up in more places than Michael Caine.

Jared's bike is outfitted with Dura-Ace, right down to the Dura-Ace SRM crankset, which allows him to create AND measure formidable power simultaneously. That's versatility.

The lone exception to the Dura-Ace monopoly on the bike are the Cane Creek SL brakes, which Jared says are lighter and less expensive than Dura-Ace. But he swapped the DA pads back in because they provide a better bite.

My favorite component on his bike are his handlebars, or what he calls his mini-drops. He runs Bontrager Fit VR bars. They're marketed as women's bars, but are available with a 31.8mm clamp and up to a 44cm width, so they'll hold up to just about anything and anyone (at least I hope so - mine just came in). What's unique about them is that the reach is only 70mm (compared to 80-85mm for most bars) and the drop a super shallow 120mm (vs 140mm - 150mm for others). This allows Jared to ride his drops more comfortably and more frequently, and also gives him freedom to position his brake and shift levers optimally for riding on the hoods, and still have easy access when in the drops.

Now if you know Jared, you know he's a small guy. But before you dismiss the mini-drops as a superfluous modification to your own rig, you might want to ask Tom Zirbel, who is about 6'4" and 195 lbs, if his were at all helpful in his 20-mile solo break at the end of the final stage of the ATOC. I'm just sayin', maybe Jared's onto something.

Know of another bike that wants to be profiled in GamJams Tech? Do tell.

GamJams Tech: Andreas Gutzeit's Cannondale SuperSix

I read the pro cycling trades, and inevitably end up looking through the features on the bikes the pros ride. Occasionally, I'll stumble across a nugget that's useful. For example, I read that Tom Boonen runs a 130mm stem so that he remains stretched out, low and aero even while standing in sprints. That's interesting. But what brand of stem Tom's sponsor requires him to use - and supplies him with for free - doesn't do much to influence my own purchasing decisions.

But what some of the local hammers ride - folks who deliberate over component choices and fund them from their personal coffers - now that's some rumination and research I'd like to tap into. Maybe you will too. So I'm starting a series called "GamJams Tech" which will feature some of the local racers' bikes - what they ride and why they ride it. But unlike learning about the pro bikes, you'll see these on local starting lines soon enough, where you can inspect their choice choices up close. And also different from most pro profiles, I expect if you leave a comment here with questions for the proud papa, he'll be glad to answer them. Hope you enjoy.

Andreas Gutzeit's Cannondale SuperSix

"Das kleine Schwarze" is what Andreas Gutzeit, Masters' racer with ABRT, calls his new Cannondale SuperSix. The internet thinks that means "The Little Black." Andreas' frame is a 52 and is, in fact, black. Maybe the internet is right.

One of Andreas' favorite components is the SI Crankset:

You say 'rouleur,' Andreas says 'break-away' dreamer. Either way, the Reynolds 45 DVU wheels are just the ticket - deep enough to afford some noticeable aero advantage, but not so deep that Andreas has second thoughts about using them on some of our windswept industrial crits.

The cockpit is spec'ed out with carbon FSK K-wing bars and a shorter than average Control Tech stem. Dura-Ace brifters and pro-peloton-issue white bar wrap complete the controls.

Need more carbon fiber? Andreas has it. From the Cannondale C1 Brakeset...

... to the USE Alien Carbon Post. And if that doesn't look like a road saddle on top, it's not. Make no mistake - Andreas suffers. But only where necessary. He's swapped out the minimalist trend for a Selle Italia SLR CX saddle. Couch comfy!

Finishing off the bike are Time pedals and uncharacteristically mass market Forte Theta Carbon Bottle cages from Performance.

I understand the appeal of a carbon cage at half the price of competitive brands. Andreas would only need to buy 30 pairs of these to save enough money to afford the Reynolds wheels. How's that for cyclist's logic?

Gorgeous ride, Andreas. Looking forward to seeing you (both) out there this season. Thanks for sharing.

Know of another bike that wants to be profiled in GamJams Tech? Do tell.