Lennard Zinn sweeps the USGP races Oct. 13-14!

The US Grand Prix of Cyclocross, the biggest cyclocross race series in this country, came to Colorado the weekend of October 13-14 in the form of the SmartWool USGP in Fort Collins. My daughter Emily and I raced on our magnesium custom Zinn Magster ‘cross bikes, and both of us had successful weekends. I won both days in 55+ Masters men, and Emily placed mid-pack both days in Category 2&3 women despite fighting a cold and having just moved up from Category 4 (she is still in her first year of racing).

Saturday started cool and dry and turned to pouring rain in the middle of my race. Fortunately, I had opted for tires with good tread (Dugast Typhoons) rather than fine tread, which would have been faster in the conditions at the start but which would have been sliding all over the place in the mud that formed rapidly the last two laps. I had lots of catching up to do in both races, since I started in the very back row both days. Unlike local races, in which riders are called to the line based on their points totals, the USGP in my and Emily’s categories do not have a points category of their own and don’t honor any other. Call-ups are based entirely on order that registration was received, and we registered late.

The challenge of passing all of those riders in my group plus lots of singlespeeders who were on course at the same time and had started 2 minutes ahead was great practice for me for upcoming national and world championships I’ll be doing in January. Being able to advance through traffic on a tight and technical cyclocross course is a crucial skill for success.

I am in my fourth season of racing cyclocross, and this season, since I just moved up to 55+ and will be the young guy in that category, added to the fact that the world cyclocross championships are in the USA–in Louisville, KY (the first time ever outside of Europe), I have been training for cycling for the first time in 30 years. I started racing cyclocross as a way to stay fit for cross-country ski racing in the fall, but now it has become an end in itself. And I got an early jump on the cycling season by tearing my triceps muscle in the Finlandia Hiihto and Vasaloppet ski races in Finland and Sweden in late February/early March. Instead of skiing into May, I hung up my skis after the first weekend in March, and I raced my first road season since 1982, in order to prepare for cyclocross season. My goal is to be on the podium at state, national and world championships in cyclocross this season. I am encouraged by this weekend’s results and am taking them as evidence that my training plan is working.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Zinn Travel bike tours Italy

6/13
93k /1093mt/5hr.      58 mi/3856 vert ft

Wow.      So, this is where Michelangelo went to conceive his imagination, and give birth to a great sculpture.
The ride was pretty flat for about 30k, then the climb began. Firs gentle 4-8% (that’s gentle now), then it kicked up to 10 -15% for about 4k. It let up a little going through some towns. But the climb to the last town was steady over1 2% for 1.5k. Well, at. The turn for the town (which is a dead end on a point, I saw the sign for the “cave”, the marble mine. There’s actually several, but I think the approaches are all the same. So, there I was climbing 20% switchbacks, about 30-40 meters each. I made it  half way  up the 4th, really feeling it, when two mining trucks came, one up, behind me, and one down. I pulled into the flowers on the right and stopped , watching the trucks pass each other in a dance they must repeat all day long. The concierge told me that when they get to the top turns, there’s no room to even turn one truck so they have a place at each turn where they go into and then go up backwards, repeating this until they reach the mine. I was slightly above my destination town (see photo), and I turn and went down, but couldn’t resist going up to the town, which felt “easy” now at 6-10%. And there was a great fountain at the top! ( see photo ). So these are the white topped mountains I’ve been seeing froths distance all week if it were snow, you’ll need to bring your rock skis. home was supposed to be all downhill then a long 20k flat run home, avoiding the beach traffic. What the guide book said was when you get to the STOP sign at the bottom of the hill, in Carrara, make a left turn toward Massa. What the guide book didn’t say was as you approach the bottom get into a low gear, because when you make that left, from a full stop, your facing a 500 meter 8% uphill climb, before you reach that flat section.  Oy. The ride back to Viareggio on the alternate route was busy with traffic anyway. When I got to town, I immediately went to my new favorite Gelateria, for a dark chocolate mixed with dark cherry, and another wonderful flor that I haven’t identified yet. I’ll ask tomorrow. I cleaned and lube Sally for another ride tomorrow. Dinner at a grey restaurant. Chef’s choice, fixed price meal. Just what I was craving. Lots of fish. Pasta vongole, with clams and lots of mussels. And a mixed grilled fish and vegetables dish. I’m full, and I only had one piece of bread. Oh, and a carafe of very good house wine. I feel full, and I feel fine.
Time for. Bed soon. I’ll try to load some photos for you.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Super Customized Low q-factor Zinn Bicycle

Dear Lennard,

A rainy day here so I’ll catch up on some stuff.   Don’t know if you ever saw this bike after Dave T. dropped the toptube and added the extra stays.  You’ll remember that it was designed for dropped pedals.   I wanted to have two bikes exactly the same so I could go back and forth between them so I switched this bike to standard-pedal cranks.  The saddle is pretty far forward because it’s 4cm higher than it was with the dropped pedals.

I set each one up according to my tests and then measure them to make sure I wasn’t fooling myself.  The tests work!!!  You could take my bike apart and I would put it back together exactly the same without measuring saddle height, reach…..anything.  That could be an interesting challenge.

You remember the tiller aerobar?  I’ve been playing around with it ever since I got it but was never perfect until I got the saddle design worked out.  It’s too sensitive, so far, to changeable winds to be practical overall, but on a calm day or a steady breeze it works.  There are no forearm pads.  Don’t really need them.  My wrists touch the bars but there’s really no weight on them, or on the tiller either really.  My other bike needs some work so I haven’t tried the tiller on it outside yet.  It should at least be more stable since the BB height is 4cm lower.

There are several cool things going on as a result of this saddle.  My upper body stays in the same position regardless of gearing.  In the past I’ve mentioned how I set the hoods for 53/12 and my hands come back on the bars as gearing decreases.  But, in the past, my upper body rose as my hands came back, not the greatest for aerodynamics.  The tiller still worked but my grip moved down progressively.

Another cool thing is that I can put the cranks in any position and they will stay there.  With stock saddles, I can put either foot down around 4:00 or 5:00 and it will go backwards up toward 3:00.  That says to me that the dead weight of my legs is more on the back leg.

I’m ready to get back to Luca now.  I think I’ve figured out how to approach him.  I got a new Concor so I could be fully informed.  I thought it looked dorky in photos with those wings on the side but it looks pretty cool in person.  But it doesn’t work as well as the old Concor for me.

I’ve got to take some photos of the pelvis model on the various saddles.  I think you’ll be surprised.

Thanks,
Ron

Cyclocross Nationals 2012

This past weekend was the Cyclocross Nationals in Wisconsin. Not as much snow as we were used to from racing cyclocross in Colorado this season, and overall a great event. Here are some photos.

Here I (Lennard Zinn) am with my longtime buddy Dag Selander (in the orange jacket) who pit-crewed for me. I switched bikes four times during the race; one time because I had a stick jammed in my rear derailleur (see photo). Dag power washed my bikes and gave me a nice, clean one almost every lap.
Last photo is with my teammates (who race different categories than me); left to right: LZ, Brandon Dwight, Pete Webber, and Greg Keller.

My custom lightweight magnesium Zinn Cyclocross bike with custom cranks, Enve carbon fiber rims, and all the lightweight components.

 

 

A word on wheels…

Howdy

Was out on a ride this morning (it’s the middle of summer down here in New Zealand) and was at the back of a biggish bunch when a heard a loud BANG – and then had to take evasive action as a rider in front was obviously struggling to control his bike – and get it to a stop.  Ended up in the grass on the side of the road – no harm done.

Turns out – he’d broken a spoke on his rear wheel – and the wheel was so badly buckled that it wouldn’t turn without rubbing hard on the frame – so it was completely unridable.    Nothing to be done – but to get the cell phone out and get someone to pick him up.

But it got me to thinking about spoke counts and heavy riders…  Not that he was heavy – pretty tall but was a skinny Swiss guy.  But he had a low spoke count and one of those lacing patterns where there are 3 spokes close together – then a good sized gap – then another 3 etc etc…  He told me that this was the third time he’d broken a spoke with the same result each time.    He looked like a pretty handy rider too – which was lucky – as a lesser experienced rider might have gone down – and taken others down too – which would really have spoiled our Boxing Day ride…

As I’d stopped – we got to talking and he looked me up and down and asked if I’d had problems with broken spokes.   (I’m 198cm and 127kg – so I guess I looked like a likely candidate).  But I was happily able to answer him – that I used to break spokes (and frames) regularly- but since I’d had my Zinn bike and the wheels that they put together for me – I hadn’t broken a single spoke in 3 years and a lot of kms.

For someone my size – this is a big statement! (especially since I race on the bike a lot and I only have the one set of wheels – so they are my racing/training/commuting wheels)

When I bought my bike – my brief was something like “give me the best and most robust wheels you can for around $400 ” (this was all the budget would allow)  I knew that they specialised in big bikes and big riders – so I put my trust in them.   What they put together has been absolutely bullet proof.  DT Swiss TK 7.1 36 hole rims (front and back)  laced up to 36 hole Ultegra hubs.  And they have just been outstanding.

The only time they’ve ever had to be looked at – was when I got involved in a coming together on a descent – and ended up riding down a ditch at fairly high speed – and the net result of that was the slightest of buckles in the rear wheel – that was fixed at the local bike shop in a jiffy.  ( the other guy on the other hand went over the handlebars and snapped his forks in two!)

As I said – they are my everything wheels – race/train/commuting – and they haven’t missed a beat.  And that is hugely confidence inspiring…   I know now that I can get out of the saddle and sprint or climb – and that nothing is going to break.

Anyway – that’s my observations and experience from 3 years with a set of wheels that Zinn Built

Boxing Day in NZ.

Following in her father’s tire tracks – Emily Zinn is kicking butt in the local ‘cross circuit.

It’s great to see a father and daughter team racing ‘cross together. Emily decided to join Lennard this year to train and race in the local Cyclocross series. Despite a snowy start to the season, the two of them have been out training together at dawn at least once a week, and racing on the weekends. Both are riding custom Zinn magnesium cyclocross bikes, and the lightweight, smooth riding bikes have helped keep the energy levels to the max. (Emily isn’t quite lucky enough to have two bikes, like her dad,  yet. Christmas is still not here……)

Emily Zinn after her victory Saturday in the Bowl of Death at the Louisville Rec Center

On Saturday, she was psyched for her home course advantage (the Bowl of Death is just over the hill from her house and where they train at least once a week) and for the foot of snow and plenty of mud, in which she loves riding. She had lots of Bowl of Death Wednesday morning training group regulars, cheering her on, as well as her mom Sonny and cousin Leif and Delilah (her faithful hound).
A bike change would have made a big difference; on the last lap, her rear wheel froze in place on the last run-up so it wouldn’t turn for remounting.
Saturday she beat a big field as it was part of the Colorado Cross Cup series, and she beat the woman who’s leading the series by almost a minute.

Emily on the top step after winning the Adrenalin Cross in Highlands Ranch

She also won the Adrenalin Cross race on Sunday against a smaller field under much colder temperatures (24F; Saturday must have been 30F or so during her race, as the sun was out).
Way to go Emily, the whole Zinn crew is rooting for you. Especially since there is no way the rest of us are going to go out there and race bikes in the snow.

Emily on a challenging, snowy climb. hope she brought toe warmers

Emily on the Adrenalin Cross course in Highlands Ranch, Colorado

This is why cyclocross racers have two bikes.

Emily still relishing her first win at the Bowl of Death after the others have left.

Here is a link to the race results: http://www.americancycling.org/results/cross#year=2011&eventId=905&resultsetId=7606

Zinn Titanium road bike with Shimano Di2

When building a bike for Di2, there are many ways of arranging the wiring. Some run the cables externally, and some run them internally. Several different ways of mounting the battery have also surfaced since the advent of Shimano’s electronic component group. Read on and check out these images to see how we at Zinn Cycles have achieved a very sleek and elegant system for Di2 with minimal compromise in the frame’s structural integrity.

We have made a convenient entry point for each of the shifting cables so that your custom titanium Di2 bike will look very sleek and very little clutter of cables.

We make a small hole with one of Shimano’s grommets at the very end of the chainstay, so the rear derailleur cable goes right into the chainstay and looks very clean. It also keeps the chainstay stronger than if we were to drill the hole into the side of the tube.

The wire goes from the shifter and into a small hole in the down tube so the wire can be hidden all the way until it reaches the derailleurs.

Instead of drilling the large hole that shimano suggests in their guidelines in the side of the down tube, we put ours in the bottom of the bottom bracket, which has much less effect on the strength of the bike. Then the battery is mounted under the down tube hidden by the chainrings and is very inconsicuous. The chainring gets in the way a little when opening the battery pack, but it’s worth it for the clean look.