Tech Tip: Maintain your Chain

The simplest way to maintain a chain is to frequently wipe it down and then lubricate it. If you do this before or after every ride or two, your chain will stay clean, run smoothly, and last longer, without needing to use a solvent. To simplify this procedure, I recommend leaving a pair of rubber gloves, a rag, and some chain lube next to your bike. Whenever you return from a ride, put on the gloves, wipe and lube the chain, and put your bike away; the bike can be standing on the ground or in a bike stand. It takes maybe a minute, your hands stay clean, and your bike is ready for the next ride.
With a rag in your hand, grasp the lower length of the chain (between the bottom of the chainring and the lower jockey wheel of the rear derailleur). Turn the crank backward a number of revolutions, pulling the chain through the rag. Lubricate each chain roller by turning the crank and running the chain past the dripping tip of the chain-lube bottle. Wipe the chainrings, cogs, front derailleur, and jockey wheels while you’re at it, and the entire drivetrain will keep running smoothly.

40th Anniversary of the Iron Horse race from Durango to Silverton

I raced the Iron Horse Classic from Durango to Silverton yesterday. It gets harder every time I do it. It’s the 40th anniversary of the race, and the organizers invited all of the past winners back with an entry into their category of choice. I raced in my category (45-54), but Ned Overend (at 55, he’s 2 years older than me) still raced with the pros, and damned if he didn’t win it again! He’s now won it 5 times, plus 5 second and 5 third places. It’s been 28 years since his first time winning the race and 19 years since his last time. And with 5 wins, he stays ahead of our dear friend Mara Abbott, who would have tied him, as she won her 4th (but she’s the only one to win 4 straight).
I can’t figure out if/how his win could be motivating for me. I found it disheartening when I wasn’t yet to the top of the first pass (Coal Bank) when the clock was already past 2:10, the time it took me when I won it 31 years ago. I finished in 2:55 and felt disappointed to be 3/4 hour slower (1/4 hour slower per decade, on average) than I was in 1980, but then was encouraged by Durango-ites who were congratulatory of my having broken 3 hours. I used to chuckle at the thought of being beaten by the train (the race started as a bet between a cyclist and a brakeman on the narrow-gauge train about who could get to Silverton faster), but it does 3:30, so I’m not that far ahead of it anymore!
Alexi Grewal seems more human in his 50+ comeback, as he’s going fast (top 20 in the pros) but nowhere near Ned, who never stopped racing.

Elkhorn Stage Race

Hello,

Elkhorn Stage race in Baker, OR was on June 18-20 and here is my experience of the race.

Day 1

Elkhorn stage race starts in Baker City, OR right between two mountain ranges the Blue mountains to the east and the Elkhorn mountains to the west. The first stage was a 75 mile road race with the first 23 miles was on rolling hills with one short climb of about 400 feet tall, this first part was fairly uneventful, then we came to the largest climb in the stage at mile 35 it was a 15 mile long inconsistent grade that climbed almost 2,000 feet vertical; this climb was were the race began. As the pace began to pick up I was doing well and not having to work too hard to keep up. Others were not doing so well, by the time the front group had crested there were 28 racers in a field that started with almost 70. I had made the selection and was able to make the final psuh over the top of the climb and stay on to the front group. Next was an uniterupted descent of about 4 miles then we hit some rollers, there were 2 rollers on that descent that would make an M shape on an elevation profile the first climbed 200 feet then dropped 75 and came back up to about the same level. Aparently there was someone who was not tired as the pace was being driven very hard over them, I hung on and there was another descent of about 7 miles then another roller similar to the earlier and we came to the lowest point in the course at mile 65 and the base of a rolling climb that summited 1,100 feet higher than the base. This climb was tough, the pace was very high and to give you a good idea of how high it was we were going 31 mph over the summit of the climb. 31 mph going up a 3% grade is fast. After the blistering summit there was a short descent and we came to the run in to the finish 2 flat, fast miles in to the end. I went for an early sprint in an attempt to get away from the pack at 1 km to go. I got about 25 feet away but was caught and hung in for the field sprint which I finished 14th in the front group of 23 out of almost 70 starters, I was dead equal with the winners time as there were no time bonuses.

Day 2

The second day of the race had a time trial in the morning and a criterium in the afternoon. The TT was a short climb going out and then coming back and the same way and going 1.5 miles past the start on fairly flat ground. Total climbing for the course was about 500 feet vertical, pretty well suited for my 6′ 7″ not too light build. During the TT I was able to catch 7 racers who started ahead of me at 30 second intervals. I was caught by my 30 second man just before the turn-around and was able to keep him in my sight for the remainder of the time trial. He was the winner and he finsihed 51 seconds ahead of me putting me in a very strong 9th for the day with the same GC  placing for the stage. That afternoon there was a Criterium. the course was fast, flat, wet and dangerously slick, and the officials opted to cancel the Criterium for my category. I do not like it when a race is canceled but this was probably a good idea because the officials decided to continue with the pro 1/2 cirt an hour later and over one-half the feild had crashed by the end of that stage.

Day 3

The final stage of the Elkhorn Classic was a 102 mile race with 7,075 vertical feet of climbing finishing on the top of Mount Dooley whose summit is at 5,500 feet above sea level. It was cold at 42 degrees F and wet a light rain persisted throughout the day. There was an attack at mile 12 which I opted not to follow and the pack was realativly calm for until mile 80 there were a few sporadic attacks that quickly fizzled while the first attack stayed away and gained as much as 6 minutes on the main group. I stayed with the peloton for that time with exception of a stop at mile 57 to relive myself; I was alone and 40 seconds back from the pack at the base of the third signiicant climb.  I was feeling much better after my stop and caught the pack going up the 800 foot climb and was near the front once more by the summit. The pack had been whittled down to about 45 of the original 7o. Many people did not want to race in the rain and a few fast Juniors decided to save their legs for Road Nationals as such I had moved up to forth overall. the pace picked up at mile 80 and we were moving around the mid-30 mph range on the gently rolling run to Mt Dooley during which we caught the group that had gotten away aaround mile 12. We hit the final climb at mile 93; Mt Dooley climbed 2,000 feet vertical to finish. During the climb I was doing well. People were dropping like flies off the back and I suvived the selection down to 25 racers until I came off the back along with 2 other people one of whom was soon dropped. I stayed with the other guy until the final two km during which I dropped him and by the finish I was 2:07 back from the winner and I finished in 22nd place for the stage with a GC finish of 7th. At the top of the mountain it was cold 36 degrees F and still raining most people were suffering from hypothermia to some extent and we had to descend the other side mountain and ride the 18 miles back to the start some people decided to wait for the bus that was supposed to pick the racers up at the base but it was not there when I arrived and I rode back to Baker City alone. Overall Elkhorn was a great experience and the long cranks on my Zinn bicycle were a big help to me on the climbs. Last year’s racing on shorter cranks I was dropped on almost every big climb.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob Ashton

Early Season Racing In The North-West

Right now it’s early racing season here in the North-Western US. I just finished my first month of racing in which I was able to do four races: Frozen Flatlands in Cheney, WA. Ronde Van Palouse in Spangle, WA. The Tour of Walla Walla in Walla Walla, WA and the Cherry Blossom Classic in The Dalles, OR.

Frozen Flatlands:

The Frozen Flatlands race in Cheney, WA is run in omnium format with a Time Trial and longer Road Race on Saturday and a shorter Road Race on Sunday. The Time Trial course is a rolling 12.5 mile out and back race with about 250 vertical feet of climbing. The race lived up to its name, the temperature was at 35 degrees farenheit with the wind at about 18 mph with wind chill standing still this works out to about 12 degrees.  I rode my red magnesium Zinn with clip-on aerobars and a borrowed tri-spoke. My time was just over 32 minutes and I placed 7th out of 20 riders.

By the time the first road race came that afternoon it hadn’t warmed up much about 39 degrees with the wind still blowing around 20 mph. This Road Race was a 54 mile rolling course that went through the numerous wheatlands of northern Washington. The road race did not go quite as well as the Time Trial. The race started with a neutral roll out through town, this part was uneventful, once the race started everything was going smoothly until about mile 18 some dark coulds rolled in from the west and it started hailing. Hail, wind, and cold make for a not to comfortable race with the hail pelting down on the peloton we battled the crosswinds and kept on moving. Unfortunatly, because of the extreme and somewhat dangerous weather conditions I was unable to eat and bonked. I was able to hold on to the pack until 15 miles from the finish where I came off the back and had to finish alone about 18th out of 23. Sundays Road Race went much better it was a 25 mile rolling course not quite as cold, about 42 degrees, half as much wind and it was dry. The race started out along the beginning of the Time Trial course then turned off through more wheatlands. The pack stayed together for the first few miles then at around mile 7 I was able to get off the front alone. I got as much as 1 minute ahead before some of the teams decided I needed to come back, I stayed off for a total of 6 miles before being caught. The race ended in a sprint finish in which I nearly crashed after being cut off by some one swerving in front of me but I was able to recover somewhat and finsihed 16th out of 23. In the overall omnium standings I placed 12th.

Ronde Van Palouse:

Set in Spangle, WA Ronde Van Palouse is one of the more difficult early season races. My group of categrorys 1-3 did a hilly 24 mile loop 3 times. Each loop contained a 4 mile gravel section. The race started out well, in the hills I was riding with the surges fairly easily and felt very good. Just before the gravel section my rear tire went flat. There was neutral wheel support and my wheel was changed out quickly and started chasing the group. 3/4 of the way through the gravel section I flatted again this time from the wheel change change being improperly filled with air and pinching the tube. I was not allowed to get another rear wheel change so I chaged the tube out with the spare I had brought. The process took about 2.5 minutes and I was chasing the pack once more.  Iwas not able to catch back on but I decided to finish anyway and placed 4th out of 5.

Walla Walla:

The Tour of Walla Walla is four stages over three days: a Road Race Friday, a Time Trial and Criterium Saturday, and another Road Race Sunday. The first Road Race was a rolling 18 mile circuit done three times with two significant hills of  about 400 feet each lap. I rode with the pack and was once more staying with them very nicely in through the hills. Others were not so lucky out of 100 starters the first group in was only 30 people with other smaller groups trailing with the closest 5 minutes back. The race ended in a sprint finish in which I was locked in and unable to get around anyone so I finished 18th. Saturday morning’s Time Trial was 9.8 miles on a gently rolling course with a short 250 foot tall hill towards the middle of the course. I placed 38th on my Zinn road bike with aerobars and a tri-spoke 2 minutes behind the winner, a disc would have helped. Saturday evenings Criterium was 45 minutes on a 1.1 mile 9 turn course. I was not able to stay with the constant accelerations, was dropped and finished just over 2 minutes behind the winner. Sundays Road Race was a 28 mile rolling course done 3 times with one 2 mile hill with a 6% grade on each lap. The pack stayed together though there were near constant attacks and on the last lap I was riding towards the front coming into the hill to the finish when I received a fla tire courtesy of the only sharp object laying in the road. I had to wait 2.5  minutes for the wheel truck to come up to me and by the time the wheel was switched out I was 3.5 minutes back. I chased the pack up the hill and finished 52nd out the 85 remaining riders 2:34 seconds behind the leader. Being as close to the front as I was I very likely have won the stage if it was not for the flat tire. I have since switched to more flat resistant tires.

Cherry Blossom Classic:

The Cherry Blossom Classic is set in the Columbia River Gorge in a town know as The Dalles. The Gorge is well know for its consistent wind. There is so much wind that the are turbines all around the Gorge to harness the power of the consistently strong wind. This race was 4 stages over 3 days. A Road Race each on Friday and Satuday with a Time Trial and Criterium Sunday. The first Road Race was a 17 mile Circuit done 3 times with one significant hill that was about 500 feet tall. I was having a more difficualt time staying with pack during this race and I finished 47th about 3 minutes behind the winner. The next race was a figure 8 circuit of with 2  short loops at 7 miles each and 3 long loops near 18 miles. This race was very hilly with around 6500 vertical feet of climbing in the entire race. I was feeling pretty bad again and finished 60th out of 87. That night I was very sick and I was forced to drop out of the race. Very likely my weakness Friday and Saturday was caused by catching some sort of virus that did not come on in full strength till Saturday evening.

Even though I was plagued with flats during the races that I did I am still stronger than I ever have been. In my now resumed training I have consistently rode in the low 21 minute range up a climb that used to take me well over 23 minutes before I started riding on my Zinn bike with long cranks. Hopefully I will have better results in the coming races and the more puncture resistant tires will keep me from getting flats while I am racing.

Thanks for reading,

Jacob Ashton

Epic Century On My Zinn

Hi, My name is Jacob Ashton, I’m a new member of Team Zinn and this is an epic ride that I recently rode on Jan. 16.

The ride started in my hometown Clarkston, WA. I began the ride just before sunrise here’s a picture of the Snake river from the Bryden Canyon bridge.

Here’s Swallow’s Nest Rock just across the river as seen from the base of Tammany Creek.

Some of the many cows seen from the saddle today, again off of Tammany Creek.

A long, straight and slightly damp road just over the top of Tammany Creek.

The top of Webb Ridge with the Waha Mountains in the distance.

Main Street in Cul De Sac, ID (yes, that’s the real name) just off of highway 95.

One of the ten dogs total that I counted that tried get me on the ride. The others were not so small, two Dobermans were the worst but I didn’t risk a picture.

about two-thirds of the way up Cottonwood Creek.

The foothills of the Palouse (Pronounced Pa-loose) on the left with the Moscow (Moss-co) Mountains in the distance on the right.

Cherry Lane Bridge, a one-laner crossing the Clearwater river off Highway 12

The Clearwater river as seen from about one third of the way  across the Cherry Lane bridge.

 

Clearwater Canyon from the base of Hubbard Gulch a 3 mile hill with an almost 8% grade average at mile 44.

Two pictures of the Julietta-Genesee Grade just out of Julietta, the first is pointing down the and the second up. The hardest hill in the ride averaging a rhythm destroying 10.5% for 2.75 miles and at mile 51.

Strada Marron, Julietta-Genesee Road

Snow around the edges of Julietta-Genesee Road.

Some of the Grain elevators in Genesee, ID. Did you know Genesee has the highest wheat yield per acre in the world?

More grain elevators, each one of the three on the right is about 25 ft in diameter and 200 feet tall so they don’t fit in the picture.

From Genesee this ride took me to Uniontown, WA about 20 miles north of Clarkston. I headed  south out of Unionwtown and across the Palouse, most of it looks a lot like this right now.

And back into the valley the bridge farthest away on the right is the Bryden Canyon Bridge that I crossed earlier. This is the veiw from the overlook at the top of the Spiral Highway.

 

The Spiral Highway doesn’t have it’s name for nothing in this picture all the stretchs of road in the immidiate area are parts of the Spiral Highway.

And the last picture’s me with my Zinn post-ride back at home.

I’ve been riding my Zinn for a couple months now and it’s design sets it apart from any other bike I’ve ridden. It has 205 mm cranks, 30 mm longer than any other bike I’ve ridden. These long cranks allow me to utilize muscles that I otherwise would not use on 175′s and therefore allow me to ride more efficiently and much faster. Another great thing about this bike is it’s lack of shimmy or speed wobble, an inherent trait of large framed bikes, this allows me to be much more confident in my descending at high speeds. It is also much stiffer than all the other higher end bikes I’ve ridden  so I the extra power I can now produce is not wasted and is transferred efficiently to forward motion. While the bike is very stiff it also has excellent vibration dampning, this keeps my hands and other areas from going numb on the less than perfect roads like the ones in this ride.

New video on Zinn Travel Bikes

This video discusses the benefits of Zinn Travel bikes and shows them in action. We strive to make the best bikes in the world, and our travel bikes are fully engineered to meet the performance needs of our customers, and at the same time, packing easily into an airline approved case. There are many travel bikes out there including folding bikes. The problem with folding bikes, is that they have 20 inch wheels in most cases. Obviously, a small wheel is going to greatly reduce the performance of the bike. Most folding bikes I’ve seen perform like a beach cruiser, not a high performance road or mountain bike. That’s fine if you just want to cruise the boardwalks in Malibu, but if you want to go to the alps and ride the Dolomites, check out the scenery in New Zealand, or enter a race in another state, you really need a good bike. With a Zinn travel bike, you’ll be riding a high performance bike that fits pefectly when you get to your destination.

Zinn travel bikes

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You may notice in this video that the Titanium travel bike has 4 couplers in the frame and one in the stem. We offer 4 coupler bikes mainly to Taller riders to prevent them from needing to remove the fork to pack it into the 10″ S&S case. With only two couplers, fork removal is necessary for most riders over 6’2″. If you travel a lot, that is a pain. If you are only going to travel a couple of times a year, it’s probably not too big of a deal to remove the fork. We’ve also had many average sized riders get the 4 couplers in order to just make packing easier. The coupler on the stem is there for quicker packing and to protect the handlebar from repeated removal and reinstallation. We also use slotted cable stops with inline barrel adjusters so the cables can easily be removed from the bike without losing any adjustment. Everything will be adjusted just like you left it when you put your bike back together.Stay tuned for our instructional video of the packin process.

2009 Cyclocross Season

The 2009 cyclocross season is coming to a close

I’ve been racing cyclocross since mid October, picking the sport up again after 29 years away from it. I’m not sure why I’ve caught the ’cross bug so much, but it had something to do with building magnesium ’cross bikes and being jazzed about how lightweight and comfortable to ride over rough surfaces they are. I also am passionate about cross-country ski racing (mostly skating, some classic), and my fitness tends to go in the toilet when the weather and short daylight hours make road or mountain bike riding less enjoyable and more of a hassle. When the snow finally hits, I have to build fitness all over again and don’t start doing well in ski races until February. ’Cross seemed like the perfect answer, so I made myself a matching (other than the color and that one has a single chainring and the other has a double along with ’cross-top brake levers) pair of Zinn Magster ’Cross bikes and have been having a blast on them.

The new Zinn Magster cyclocross bike.

Other than a little bit of dabbling here and there, I haven’t done any ’cross since cyclocross Nationals in December 1980 (or was it January 1981?). I was 10th in those Nationals, despite riding a singlespeed! (I was on a singlespeed because Randy Whicker and I, both of us in the resident program at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs at the time, had broken so many derailleurs that ’cross season that we couldn’t afford any more. So, just before the race, we cut our chains short and connected them straight around our inner chainring and a cog in the middle of our freewheel – the long horizontal dropouts on bikes of that era allowed us to pull the chain tight. But it’s always a poor idea to make a big change before a big race, and it was a particularly bad choice for that race, since on the day of Nationals it was hot – in the 60s or so, the course was dry and fast, and we were stuck in something like a 42 X 18 gear chasing Davis Phinney, Ron Kiefel and others we had been keeping up with in ’cross all season riding their big chainring and smallest cog.)

Lennard at one of the local front range cross races this year.

Now, the Wednesday Worlds ’cross ride meets at a north Boulder coffee shop every Wednesday morning from September through December. I guess it’s been going on for around 15 years, and these days, about 80 riders, including some pros, show up each week to try and pound the others into submission. I discovered with some hard Wednesday crashes (producing injuries to my left wrist and thumb and right ribs and elbow that I continue to nurse and tape up before each race), that my ’cross skills have gotten rusty. I’m still having a blast, though.

Lennard Zinn carrying his bike in front range cross races

One of the things I love about ’cross is that, largely thanks to UCI restrictions on courses and bikes, the bikes are still funky. They don’t just work without a lot of futzing around, unlike today’s road bikes or disc-brake-and-tubeless-tire-equipped mountain bikes. The bikes are much lighter, and the pedals (from mountain bikes) and integrated shifters (from road bikes) are way better than the toeclips and down-tube or bar-end shifters we were using in the ’70s and early ’80s. But there’s still no getting around center-pull cantilever brakes, long since abandoned on mountain bikes, and we’re still using tubular tires, which require gluing and lots of care but also provide an enormous advantage over clinchers. I love working on bikes and particularly when it requires some imagination and creativity to make the bike perform the way you want. If you race ’cross, your bikes constantly demand this kind of attention. I have been writing about working on ’cross bikes each week on my Tech Q&A column on velonews.com; check it out at http://www.velonews.com/lennard-zinn.

I expect the Colorado State Championships tomorrow (December 5) and the Cyclo X Boulder on Sunday (December 6) to be my last races of the season. I race in the 45+ men’s division, but our Zinn Magster ’Cross frames http://zinncycles.pinnaclecart.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=28&pg=1 have a Cross Dresser feature allowing quickly switching the road dropouts on both sides for rear-entry track dropouts so they can be converted to a singlespeed. So I may also do the singlespeed division in one of the races this weekend, just to do it!

I’m eager to get skiing more, now that the conditions at Eldora are good, but I’ve had a great time rediscovering cyclocross.

Lennard Zinn at the front of the pack in a local muddy cross race

Check out Steve Stewart on his new Magnesium Zinn track bike

Steve Stewart was excited to get his new white Magnesium track bike. It’s light, stiff, and fast. He’s been hitting the Boulder velodrome regularly and competing in the races. Check this link to Steve’s photo page. http://gallery.me.com/stevenstewart#100149

Steve Stewart at the Boulder velodrome and his new magnesium track bike

Steve Stewart racing his new Zinn superlight track bike.

Interbike 2009

By Lennard Zinn

Well, the 2009 Interbike show is now over, and I’m glad to be back in Boulder. It was a great trip, all in all, thanks to diluting Las Vegas with lots of bike riding.

Lennard of Zinn Cycles and Wen Hsieh of KHS

With my brother, Kai, who drove out from Pasadena to meet me in Las Vegas, I did some awesome mountain bike rides in southwest Utah the weekend prior to Interbike. On Saturday (9/19), we rode trails around Brian Head for five hours, at elevations up to 11,500 feet, including Lowder Creek, Sidney Peak, and both the left and right forks of Bunker Creek http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/bunker.htm. And talk about prayers being answered, after all of that hard riding, Oktoberfest was being celebrated at the main lodge at Brian Head ski area. After a long day of mountain biking, there’s nothing like slaking your thirst with good beer and your hunger with bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato salad, and potato dumplings!

On Sunday, we rode Gooseberry Mesa http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/goose.htm. This is spectacular, circuitous slickrock riding with an amazing view of Zion National Park to the north. Unfortunately, Kai threw his rear derailleur into his spokes out in the middle of the slickrock maze, and it mangled the derailleur as well as the derailleur hanger. Fortunately, both of us had spare derailleur hangers with us. (You do carry one with you, don’t you? Wheels Mfg. carries most types http://wheelsmfg.com/content/section/4/27/ except ours, which you can get from us.) I had to do a lot of bending on the derailleur, and I was glad I had the Pedro’s Trixie tool http://www.pedros.com/trixie.html with me. I used the 5mm hex part as a hammer to bend back the tab that keeps the derailleur from flipping back past its stop, and I used the hook end to pry down the leading corner of his rear derailleur cage, which had been pried outward and was poised to catch more spokes with little provocation. Note to self: mention the Trixie in my Emergency Repairs chapter of the fifth edition of Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance http://zinncycles.pinnaclecart.com/index.php?p=product&id=34&parent=12.

Once Kai dropped me off at the Palazzo hotel and headed back to LA with both of the Zinn Megabikes he had brought for us to ride, I put my coupled titanium road bike http://www.zinncycles.com/road-custom_travel_bikes.php together on the marble floor of the palatial suite I was sharing with fellow VeloNews tech writer Matt Pacocha. I love traveling with that bike. It’s easy and free to fly with; it’s quick to put together and later take apart and put back in the case, and then I have a full-on racing bike at my hotel!

Monday and Tuesday were the Interbike’s Outdoor Demo days at Bootleg Canyon above Lake Mead. I rode from my hotel on The Strip to Bootleg Canyon and back both days (80km round trip), thus avoiding the lines for the shuttle buses and getting to ride in the cool parts of the day as well as the hot parts. As you can see from my VeloNews column http://www.velonews.com/article/98140, there now are incredible, paved bike trails connecting Bootleg Canyon with Vegas and with Lake Mead, which made the riding much more enjoyable. I caught a Campagnolo ride from the venue to the lake first thing Monday, and then the hammerfest ride, called the Tour of Lake Mead, first thing Tuesday. Every year, that becomes a full-on race for bike-industry domination by the time we reach the big climb back up to Bootleg Canyon from the lake.

There are great mountain bike trails in Bootleg Canyon itself, and I spent the rest of Tuesday riding mountain bikes on them http://www.velonews.com/article/98217. I got in 160km of riding on Monday and 130km on Tuesday, which would serve to boost my mood the following three days of the show, when I’m cooped up inside. The Palazzo is connected to the Venetian hotel, which is connected to the Sands Convention Center, so there is no need to even go outside for those three days. I work late each night writing and filing stories online, get up early for VeloNews breakfast editorial meetings in one of the hotel restaurants, then walk through fake Venetian architecture to the Sands, spend the whole day in the show geeking out on bike stuff, often having lunch and dinner also within the complex, and heading back to my room to write and continue the cycle.

Fortunately, Matt was racing in ’Cross Vegas http://www.crossvegas.com/wp2/, so I headed out there on Wednesday night. My friend Wen Hsieh, owner of KHS, took me out to dinner another night, and I ate at Chipotle on the other nights (thank god for that place!), else I really would never have gotten outside for three days.

You can see all of my Vegas tech stories here: http://www.velonews.com/lennard-zinn. I’m really glad to be back here with my family and riding my new cyclocross bike(s), among other things!

Lennard

Jack Hsieh (center, who runs the KHS/Free Agent bike factory in Taiwan), with Olympic BMX gold medalist Maris Stromberg (r.) and his team manager.

Zinn Cycles at the Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show

The 2009 Rocky Mountain Bicycle Show was a great success for Zinn Cycles. Many tall riders who were unfamiliar with our bikes and cranks became educated on Zinn products. We displayed a XXL-Plus Megabike equipped with a Rohloff Hub, a Fassa Project Big custom magnesium road bike, a Stelvio World travel bike with four S&S couplers, and a Dolomite World travel bike with four couplers and a coupled stem. We also showed off our new line of big and tall cycling clothing and the new Zinn-tegrated custom cranks.

Lennard discussing bikes with a 6'5" rider

Zinn Stelvio World Travel Bike with four S&S couplers for easier packing