Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Tour de Social Distancing Day 4 Results

Stage 7 Rive Road:Indian Hills to Glenview 2.2

1. Casey Abston 4:47  23pts
1. Nick Williams 4:47  23pts
3. Sam Cole  5:17 18pts
4. Graeme Gardener (SS) 5:21 17pts
5. Jeremy Belcher 5:24 16pt
6. DJ Zach Whiddon  5:26 15pts
7. Gerardo Ceballos  5:40 14 pts
8. Bennett Keefer 5:41  13pts
9. Jeff Boyd    5:49  12pts
10. Phil Gardner 6:14   11pts
11.  Chris Harrison 6:17  10pts
12. Michelle Passi   6:21  9pts
13. Alex Kopp  6:34  8pts
14.  Andy Niblett 6:41  7pts
15. Meredith Sierpina  7:03  6pts
16.  Angela Leet  7:31  5pts
17. Steve Eastman  7:41  4pts
18.  Angelica Ford 7:44 3pts
19. Phil Mattingly 8:05 2pts
20. Blair Boden   8:08  1pt

Stage 8 Lewis and Clark End to End 2.5mi

1. Casey Abston 7:12 24pts
1. Nick Williams  7:12 24pts
3. Sam Cole 7:42 19pts
4. Graeme Gardiner (SS) 8:07 18pts
5. Gerardo Ceballos  8:11  17pts
6. Jeremy Belcher 8:30 16pts
7. Jeff Boyd  8:47 15pts
8. DJ Zach Whiddon 9:05 14pts
9. Michelle  Passi  9:22 13pts
10.  Steve Eastman 9:46 12pts
11.  Alex Kopp 10:06  11pts
12. Kirk Johnson 10:16 10pts
13. Blair Boden 10:22 9pts
14. Phil Gardner 10:32 8pts
15. Bennett Keefer 10:42 7pts
16. Jeff George  11:24 6pts
17. Leslie Selden  11:26 5pts
18.  Andy Niblett 11:46 4pt
19. Phil Mattingly 12:01 3pts
20. Amir Piracha 13:38 2pt
21.  Bob Latter    1pt

Stage 9: Old Salem Climb 0.32mi

1. Casey Abston  35sec  22pts
2. Nick Williams 37sec  19pts
3. Bennett Keefer 43sec  17pts
4. Jeremy Belcher 45sec 16pts
4. Graeme Gardiner 45sec 16pts
6. DJ Zach Whiddon 49sec 14pts
7.  Steve Eastman 50sec  13pts
7.  Sam Cole  50sec     12pts
9. Gerardo Ceballos  51pts  11pts
10. Jeff Boyd   58pts   10pts
11. Blair Boden  1:02  9pts
12. Michelle Passi 1:11 8pts
13. Alex Kopp 1:14 7pts
14. Phil Gardiner 1:15 6pts
14. Leslie Selden  1:15 6pts
16. Amir Piracha  1:23 4pts
17. Jeff George   1:24  3pts
18.  Bob Latter  1:31 2pts
19 David Fielding  1:50  1pts


Overall Standings after Day 4

name  Total
Casey Abston 181
Nick williams 174
Sam Cole 135
Graeme Gardiner (SS) 116
John Maggard 110
Gerardo Ceballos 99
Jeff Boyd 99
D.J. Zach Whiddon 98
Jeremy Belcher 87
Bennett Keefer 84
Jacob Holtegrew 77
James Kraus 68
Curtis Tolson 61
Steve Eastman 60
Tobias Lee 53
Ben Wilson 43
Jeff Moulton 38
Kevin Clark 34
Blair Boden 33
michelle Passi 33
Alex Kopp 26
Phil Gardner 24
Ben King 20
David Durkee 17
fritz Games 17
kyle Schwedler 15
Patrick Donovan 15
Trevor Williamson 15
Jon Kindig 14
Andy Niblett 11
Kirk Johnson 10
chris Harrison 9
Jeff George 9
John Hayden 8
Chelsea Stengel 7
David Goewey DuBou 7
Amir Piracha 6
Meredith Sierpina 6
Angela Leet 5
Jeff Bauer 5
Leslie Selden 5
Phil Mattingly 5
Andrew Henckel 4
Evon Rajewich 4
joe fuller 4
Angela Ford 3
Bob Latter 3
Bill Dolan 2
Brittany Maggard 2
Charles Frank 1
David Williams 1
David Fielding 1

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Day 3 Results Stages 5 & 6

Stage 5 Beckley Parking - rollers- Shelbyville parking

1. Casey Abston 3:07  17pts
2. John Maggard 3:10 14pts
3. Nick Williams  3:14 12 pts
4. Sam Cole   3:23  11pts
5.  D.J Zach Whiddon  3:43 10pts
6. Graeme Gardiner 3:46 9pts
7. Gerardo Ceballos 3:57  8pt
8.  Jon Kindig    4:04  7 pts
9. Kyle Schwedler  4:10  6 pts
10. Jeff Boyd    4:25 5pts
11.  Steve Eastman  4:33 4pts
12 Bennett Keefer   4:45 3pts
13 Blair Boden  5:16 2pts
14 Michelle Passi (strava glitch) 1pt

Stage 6  Echo Trail Southboud

1. Casey Abston   5:29  17pts
2. Nick Williams  5:30 14pts
3. John Maggard 5:31  12pts
4. Jeff Boyd 6:34 11pts
5 Sam Cole  6:37  10 pts
6. Kyle Schwedler  6:47 9 pts
6. Graeme Gardiner6:47 9pts
8. Jon Kindig   6:48 7pts
9. Gerardo Ceballos  7:04 6pts
10 Bennett Keefer 7:18 5pts
11.  Steve Eastman  7:27  4pts
12. Michelle Passi   8:20  3pts
13. Blair Boden  8:43 2 pts
14 Dj Zach Whiddon 8:56 1pt

Overall standings after Day 3

name  Total
Casey Abston 112
John Maggard 110
Nick williams 108
Sam Cole 86
Jacob Holtegrew 77
James Kraus 68
Graeme Gardiner (SS) 65
Jeff Boyd 62
Curtis Tolson 61
Gerardo Ceballos 57
D.J. Zach Whiddon 55
Tobias Lee 53
Bennett Keefer 47
Ben Wilson 43
Jeremy Belcher 39
Jeff Moulton 38
Kevin Clark 34
Steve Eastman 31
Ben King 20
David Durkee 17
fritz Games 17
Trevor Williamson 15
Patrick Donovan 15
kyle Schwedler 15
Blair Boden 14
Jon Kindig 14
John Hayden 8
David Goewey DuBou 7
Chelsea Stengel 7
Jeff Bauer 5
Andrew Henckel 4
joe fuller 4
Evon Rajewich 4
michelle Passi 4
Brittany Maggard 2
Bill Dolan 2
Charles Frank 1
David Williams 1


Day 2 Stages 2-4 results

Stage 2 Mayo Climb

1. James Kraus  1:27    24pts
2. Casey Abston 1:36 21pts
2. Jeff Moulton   1:36 21pts
4 John Maggard  1:36 18 pts
5. Jacob Holtegrew 1:41 17pts
6. Sam Cole  1:42        16pts
6. Tobias Lee  1:42    16 pts
8. Nick Williams  1:46 14pts
9 Ben Williams  1:52  13pts
10. Gerardo Ceballos 2:03  12pts
11.  Jeff Boyd  2:04  11pts
12.  Bennett Keefer  2:04   10pts
13.  Jeremy Belcher   2:08   9 pts
14. Curtis Tolson   2:09    8 pts
15.  Kevin Clarks   2:10   7pts
16.  Graeme Gardiner (SS) 2:13  6pts
17.  D.J. Zach Whiddon   2:19 5pts
18.  Steve Eastman  2:29  4 pts
19 Fritz Games   2:45    3pts
20. Blair Boden  3:21    2pts
21. David Williams    3:42  1 pt


Stage 3 Covered Bridge- eagle way to sleepy hollow

1. Casey Abston   6:41   26pts
2. Nick Williams 6:42    23pts
3. James Kraus   6:43     21pts
3.  Jacob Holtegrew  6:43   21pts
5  John Maggard     6:47   19pts
6 Curtis Tolson     6:51    18pts
7 Tobias Lee     7:19    17pts
8.  Jeff Moulton   7:32   16pts
9. Sam Cole      7:33   15pts
10.  Graeme Gardiner (SS) 7:53 14pts
11.  Ben Wilson  7:56   13pts
12.  Jeff Boyd   8:11   12 pts
13. Jeremy Belcher   8:22   11pts
14.  D.J. Zach Whiddon  8:23  10pts
15.  Fritz Games  8:27    9 pts
16. Bennett Keefer    8:31    8 pts
17  Gerardo Ceballos   8:33  7 pts
18.  Kevin Clark    8:36     6pts
19. Trevor Williamson   9:10   5pts
20. Steve Eastman    9:15  4pts
20. Joe Fuller        9:15     4pts
22 Patrick Donovan    10:03   2pts
23. Blair Boden     10:50   1 pt


Stage 4 Sleepy hollow

1. Casey Abston  3:01   28pts
2. John Maggard  3:02   25pts
3. James Kraus   3:04    23 pts
4. Jacob Holtgrewe  3:04  22pts
5. Tobias Lee      3:19   21pts
6. Nick Williams  3:20   20pts
7. Jeremy Belcher   3:34  19pts
8 Sam Cole   3:36     18pts
9.  Ben Wilson   3:48   17pts
10.  Curtis Tolson   3:55    16 pts
11.  Graeme Gardiner (SS) 4:00   15pts
12. DJ Zach Whiddon   4:05   14pts
13. Patrick Donovan   4:07   13 pts
13.  Gerardo Ceballos   4:07  13pts
15. Bennett Keefer      4:12 11pts
16.  Trevor Williamson  4:15   10pts
17.  Jeff Boyd   4:20     9pts
18.  Kevin Clark   4:27   8pts
19.  Chelsea Stengel  4:44  7pts
20.  Steve Eastman  4:55   6pts
21. Fritz Games 4:56  5pts
22  Evon Rajewich  5:14   4 pts
23. Jeff Moulton   5:29    3pts
24.  Bill Dolan    5:31   2pts
25  Blair Boden   5:48   1pt

Overall standings after Day2

name  Total
John Maggard 84
Nick williams 82
Casey Abston 78
Jacob Holtegrew 77
James Kraus 68
Sam Cole 65
Curtis Tolson 61
Tobias Lee 53
Graeme Gardiner (SS) 47
Jeff Boyd 46
D.J. Zach Whiddon 44
Gerardo Ceballos 43
Ben Wilson 43
Bennett Keefer 39
Jeremy Belcher 39
Jeff Moulton 38
Kevin Clark 34
Steve Eastman 23
Ben King 20
David Durkee 17
fritz Games 17
Trevor Williamson 15
Patrick Donovan 15
Blair Boden 10
John Hayden 8
David Goewey DuBou 7
Chelsea Stengel 7
Jeff Bauer 5
Andrew Henckel 4
joe fuller 4
Evon Rajewich 4
Brittany Maggard 2
Bill Dolan 2
Charles Frank 1
David Williams 1


Friday, March 27, 2020

Tour De Social Distancing Stage 1 results

Result are all together.  Can be broken down however you want to.   For prizing purposed i am only splitting them into Men and Women

Stage 1:  Cherokee Extended

1. Nick Williams   9:00      25 points
2. John Maggard    9:03       22 points
3. Ben King           9:29       20 points
4. Curtis Tolson     9:37      19 points
5. Jacob Holtegrew 9:56     18 points
6. David Durkee     10:03   17 points
7.  Sam Cole           10:20    16 points
8. D.J. Zach Whiddon 10:29 15points
9. Jeff Boyd            10:44      14 points
10. Kevin Clark      10:48      13 point
11.  Graeme Gardiner  (SS)  10:49   12points
12. Gerardo Ceballos   11:03  11 points
13.  Bennett Keefer     11:16   10 points
14.  Steve Eastman    11:54     9 points
15.  John Hayden       12:07     8 points
16.  David Goewey Dubou  12:57   7 points
17.   Blair Boden     13:14     6 points
18   Jeff Bauer       13:17      5 points
19   Andrew Henckel   14:05   4 points
20.  Casey Abston       14:23     3 points
21  Brittany Maggard  14:30     2 points
22. Charles Frank        20:42     1 point


Congrats to everyone.    Nick Williams, John Maggard, Ben King, Blair Boden, and Brittany Maggard have all had credits put on their accounts at GCC.    In this case I happen to know everyone on the podium,  but in future if we don't know you or the employee working doesn't know you personally, we may ask you to verify your identity by showing us your Strava account.   After the first rider completes 4 stages, store credits and or prizes will be awarded to both daily winners and current overall leaders.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Social Distancing Stage Race. Rules, Course descriptions and more.

Welcome to this years Social Distancing Stage race.  

 Yes we are serious, yes there will be prizes, there might even be some bragging rights.   No there is no entry fee.  

11 stages over the course of 5 days.   

Each stage is simply a Strava segment that must be completed ON A BICYCLE on the day that it is scheduled.    On days that multiple stages are scheduled,  the stages are close together so they could all reasonably be completed over the course of 1 ride.  

The rules of this race are junior to both the rules of the road and any and all changing guidance from the CDC or any other federal, state or local governing bodies.  In other words obey the law and ride safely.  Strava segments are on open and unsupervised roads,  by competing in this stage race you agree that your safety is your own responsibility and you absolve the event organizers of any liability for your own personal injury, death, or damage to property that may result from competing in this race.  

Results for the stage will determined by the "Todays Leaderboard" on the Strava ap.   Result will be collected sometime after sunset each day.   If you finish a segment after sunset there is a possibility that your ride will not be scored.

You must complete a minimum of 4 of the 11 stages to be counted in the final score.  Riders completing all 11 stages will be scored based on their top 10 scoring stages (i.e. lowest score will be thrown out.) Both daily and overall prizes will be awarded via sanitary drive through pickup.

Points:   Point system is roughly based on the old NORBA system for you old guys.   Roughly speaking the more people you beat the more points you get.  The higher the point value of the stage the more points you can get and the more people who ride the segment that day (even if it is by mistake)  the more points you get.   Examples will be at the bottom for those of you who really care.

Ride Requirements:  You may ride each segment as many times as you want on the day.   So if someone beats your time you can go back and try again.  Your ride must be on an bicycle without a motor,  during daylight hours, wearing a helmet, and the segment must be part of a larger ride that is at least 5 miles long.   In other words you can't drive to the segment and ride just the segment and go home.  Your total ride will be examined at the time of scoring.   Honor system in effect.  If you take more that one ride to complete all of the segments,  each ride must meet the ride requirements separately.  Because of social distancing you may ride with no more than 3 other people.  Drafting is allowed if you can do it from 6 feet away.   And as always, snot rockets remain uncool.

Already this is too complicated.   Just ride the segments below  on the days listed and we will let you know  how you did.


Opening Time Trial - Friday March 27,  2020
Stage 1 "Cherokee Extended" 3.76 miles   Point value:20
      Scope this one out if you don't know it, there are turns.   This starts on Beargrass Rd. in Cherokee park,  Links into the Scenic Loop, and finishes out Park Bountry rd.

Day 2:  A day for the climbers:  Sat March 28, 2020

Stage 2:  "Mayo Climb"  0.38miles   Point Value: 10
         This climb starts from Rose Island road and heads up Mayo

Stage 3:  "Covered Bridge- Eagle Way to Sleepy hollow"  2.61 miles, Point value: 10
      we recommend taking Locke lane from Mayo to Covered bridge, but whatever is fine.  Segment starts at Eagle Way which is close to Locke Ln and then climbs all the way to Sleepy Hollow.

Stage 4:  "Sleepy Hollow"  0.96 miles  Point Value: 10 
 This climbs from the bottom of Sleepy Hollow towards Nortons Common.

Day 3: Transition day Sun March 29, 2020

Stage 5:  "Beckley Parking-rollers-Shelbyville parking" 1.25miles  point value: 10
 Note that this is not on the Louisville Loop but parallel to it.   It starts under the interstate on Beckley Creek Parkway and then merges with Blue Heron rd up to the parking lot.

Stage 6:  "Echo Trail Southbound"   2.58 miles  Point value:15
Gillians Rd to Echo trail.  All of it.

Day 4: The Leg Tenderizer day Mon March 30, 2020

Stage 7:  "Rive Road: Indian Hills trail to Glenview Ave" 2.2 miles Point Value: 10
     Name kind of has all details except that it is supposed to be River Road

Stage 8:  "Lewis & Clark End to End   2.49 miles  Point Value: 10
       The whole bike path over the foot bridge from KY to IN

Stage 9:  "Old Salem Climb" 0.32 miles   Point Value :10
     take 2 lefts after crossing bridge and you will land on Old Salem Rd.  You will know the climb when you see it.  

Day 5:  A day for sprinters   Tues March 31, 2020

Stage 10:  "Ford Factory Sprint"  1.87 miles  point value : 15
     Basically this is Chamberlain Ln past Ford

Stage 11:  "N Osage going South" 1.77 miles  point value:10
    The last hurrah as you head back into town and perhaps to Goose Creek Cycle.   Pat yourself on the back...



How the points really work:
Winner gets full points.
Second Place get three points less than first.
Third place gets 2 points less than second
Each rider after this gets 1 point less than the person before until all points are awarded.
If there are enough riders to exhaust all the points each subsequent rider will not only get a point but give a point to each rider who beat him.   This the more riders,  the more points the winner gets.

Example:    10 point race with 7 riders

Place         Points
1st              10
2nd             7
3rd              5
4th              4
5th              3
6th              2
7th              1


If 2 more riders finish the points would change as follows

Place         Points
1st              12
2nd             9
3rd              7
4th              6
5th              5
6th              4
7th              3
8th              2
9th              1



Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Specialized Eliminating Womens models

For those of you paying attention,  there has been a gradual movement in the bike industry moving away from men and women specific bikes and products to unisex products.   In the 2020 model year we are seeing Specialized finally put a nail in the coffin of the gender split and all but eliminate their line of women's bikes. 

To understand what is going on with the shift lets take a look back at the history of gender specific bikes.  I wasn't around in the early 1900's so I don't have any pictures that I have the rights to,  but if you look back pretty much as far as you care to you can see that almost as long as bikes have been made there have been women's bikes with the top tubes dropping drastically lower than the men's versions.  This is what we think of as a traditional woman's bike.   This low top tube allowed woman to ride bikes without the frame of the bike pushing their dresses up to inappropriate levels.

As we reached the mid- late 1900's our cultures across the world began to shift and it was more common so see women out and about in pants, shorts and even Spandex.   Despite the fact that less and less women ride in dresses the drop bar remained as a tradition, but two other shifts began to occur.   First men, especially older men found that getting off and on the women's bikes was much easier,  and those who had long ago learned so swallow their pride hopped on bright pink women's bikes and rode off into the sunset.

The industry took note,  and by the early 2000's manufacturers had started to produce "Step-thru" bikes with more neutral colors marketed at casual riders both men and women.  While most consumers still considered these to be "women's" bikes but the shift had started.

Meanwhile on the high end the big manufactures were producing women's specific bikes without the drop bar.   "Compact Geometries" dropped the top tube from the traditional men's parallel to the ground top tubes, so men's and women's top tubes met somewhere in the middle.  Most large manufactures had (and still have) a men's and women's version of their bikes.  The women's versions are typically geared towards petite women and are often not even made in larger sizes.  Usually these models are the same as the men's with the exception of color, saddle and handlebar width.  But on the very high end there are subtle geometry differences based on the idea that the average woman has proportionally longer femurs etc. etc. etc.

Meanwhile at Goose Creek Cycle and bike shops around the world we have gotten better and better at fitting people to their specific bike,   and have spent a lot of time convincing women that it really is okay to ride a men's bike if it feels and fits better.  

At long last the crew at Specialized, being the data junkies that they are,  have looked at the data from 10's  of thousands of bike fits and realized what many of us have kind of understood for a long time.  People are all really different and have different body types.    So with most of the measurements that matter for fit, leg length, arm length, torso length etc,  If you pick two random people of the same height, you will have measurable differences but those differences are not significantly linked to gender.  You will just have to fit them to bikes based on the body they have.

But wait!  Men and women are actually different!!

Ok you got us there are real differences between men's and women's bodies but they are isolated to specific areas.  So yes saddle women's and men's specific saddles and clothing will remain.  And if you look closely and model lines even if the bikes are not men's and women's specific you will see some nods to the fact that the bikes are designed for both.  The biggest example is this.  Because women are on average shorter than men, and women on average have wider sit bones than men,  you will see wider saddles speced on some of the smaller bikes.  This allows the bikes to fit more people more closely and allows bike shop staff to swap saddles around between bikes to fit customers more closely without having to stock as wide a range of aftermarket saddles. 

So welcome to the new age of bike fitting where we are fitting you as an individual and letting you have the experience you want without having to be bothered in the back of your mind if the bike you really like was designed for the other gender. 

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Converting a Hardtail to Full suspension

Hi all.   Wanted to start off by saying this was a joke.   It was designed to allow me to ride a bike to failure and document the process.  What we created was actually functional.   We never rode it to complete failure because the other components on the bike were so bad that they failed before the frame did.  

Either way... WE DO NOT ACTUALLY RECOMEND THIS!   Following this procedure can lead to injury or even death.   But we had a lot of fun risking our lives. 

Anyway the concepts was based on the old soft tails which basically used the natural flex of the chain stays and put a bumper or small shock into the seat stays which allowed a small amount of movement in the rear triangle.    We used a little more movement and a lot less bumper and this was the result.    Hope you enjoy.