Long-term product review: Michelin XC Road 26 x 1.4 slick

I review the Michelin XC Road 26 inch clincher slick.

I'm moving all my cycling related posts over there, as I think this blog suffers from attention fragmentation disorder.

Why I ride

I was climbing out of the small valley where the Soos creek trail runs, and my legs were burning. My breath seared my throat as it rattled past my teeth, and I pondered the replacement of my front chainring with something a little more reasonable. Only another 50 feet of climbing, I tell myself. Only another 40.

It's times like this that I remember my childhood. I remember the running, especially.

The first time my family moved to the US for any substantial amount of time, I was 10. That seems incredibly young to me now (no, really!) although my math is definitely correct. I remember it so vividly. We had the good fortune to be living in Connecticut, fairly far from civilization, in the beginnings of the Adirondacks. Connecticut is a beautiful state, neither flat nor featureless, as the Midwest often manages to be. The seasons are vivid, and distinct, the entire valley changing color in a matter of days. The area we were in made poor farmland, and was mostly covered in secondary deciduous forest.

I had one particular teacher who was obsessed with fitness. He was in great shape, and loved to run everywhere, and couldn't understand why we didn't want to do likewise. I just wanted to build go-karts out of lawnmowers and electric wheelchair motors and play games on the 386 in the library. Thinking back, I just wasn't old enough to get it. I liked sports, and was reasonably good at them, but had no desire to go running for no good reason other than burning calories.

Frankly, it hurt too much. I'm just not built for running. I'm fast over a short distance, but on anything longer than a few hundred meters, physics and genetics both dictate that I will be experiencing serious pain in short order. My legs aren't particularly long, and I'm not particularly slender. I've already complained about how the BMI system consistently rates me as 'overweight' (and probably always has). I was blessed with a fair amount of childhood fat, and nothing I did seemed to make any difference. I remember swimming specific strokes for tremendous distances one summer as part of a contest - by this same teacher, of course - with fitness components. I swam 2 miles of crawl without stopping. It took all afternoon. I racked up tens of miles of sidestroke in half-mile or mile increments. I was still fat.

Still, I loved swimming, and since that part of Connecticut is dotted with small bodies of water, I had ample opportunity. There were plenty of things that I enjoyed doing that burned calories, although I didn't think of them that way. I could (and did) swing a ax or a maul for hours. Boiling thousands of gallons of maple sap into syrup requires a fantastic amount of firewood. I learned to ice-skate in Connecticut, and when the local lakes froze over you could skate for miles over a glassy sheet, frozen plant life flashing past beneath your blades.

I still had to run. I guess the idea was that once you were forced to do something you'd come to like it. It didn't work. The neighborhoods of Norfolk are seared into my memory along with the soundtrack of my rasping breath. Staring at the houses as they go by, ever so slowly, desperate for something to distract me from the pain. Just another few hundred feet to the top of this hill... Just another couple hundred...

Sure, there are moments on the bike I wonder why I'm doing what I'm doing, usually once the gradient gets much steeper than 10% for more than a few hundred feet. But even at it's worst, the pain doesn't compare to running. The scenery, the smell of the tree leaves as the year turns to autumn, the endorphin rush after the climb - that's all still there.

So I ride because it's everything running was supposed to be for me, and everything running isn't.

I'm sure my teacher would be proud.

Quote of the day

From MSN Money:

It is only now, during this period of acute crisis, that individuals who won't go on a bicycle without a plastic-foam helmet are coming to grips with what business risk really means. And that is why a childlike innocence is dying along with the stock market this week, making people feel as sad, helpless and angry as when they first discovered the truth about other realities of adulthood.

Read the rest of the article for a reality check, although I think the author is wrong about one thing. It's not ignorance of the realities of investing that drives middle-class individual investors, it's willful delusion, tempered with the good old-fashioned American belief in the concept of 'hitting it big'.

I loved the helmet dig, though. Ok, people: it's actually more dangerous, minute for minute, to drive a car rather than ride a bicycle. So why don't I see more people wearing helmets when they're driving a car? Oh, because it's uncomfortable, cumbersome, and inconvenient. Hmmm.

I'm not sure the author regards helmet wearing in the same light that I do. He sees it (probably) as most people do - as a way to mitigate risk. I see it as a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived risk, without actually understanding the real risks that cycling involves. The majority of fatalities on bicycles happen in an encounter with a motor vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. In this case, as in the recent Puyallup death, a typical cycling helmet is unlikely to offer adequate protection.

Helmets may be risk mitigation, but far better to understand the actual risks involved in cycling, weigh them intelligently, and make an informed decision. If you really want risk mitigation, lobby for better infrastructure, tougher driving laws, and (it'll never happen) more stringent driver licensing requirements. Right now, though, I'd settle for tougher banking regulations.

Charges filed in Puyallup hit and run

Prosecutors have filed charges against Blair Jensen and his girlfriend. Bail has now been set at a cool half million dollars - but given Jensen's prior behavior, that's not exactly unjustified. At least we don't have to worry about him bailing out and running... again.

From KIRO TV:

A man now charged with fatally hitting a bicyclist and then fleeing the scene is back in custody after his arraignment Tuesday, reported KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

Police filed charges against Blair Jensen, 23, in connection with a fatal hit-and-run of a bicyclist in Puyallup last week. The charges include vehicular homicide and failure to remain at the scene of an accident. Jensen's girlfriend, Christina Ripple, was charged with rendering criminal assistance to Jensen and a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

Jensen pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Tuesday. The judge said there's a risk Jensen might run, so he upped his bail from $15,000 to $500,000. Jensen made bail when he was previously arrested, so he was out of custody when he came to court.

There are more details about the case and images here.

In which I am almost run down by a Camry

Ah. After a ten year hiatus from cycling, there are things you forget. Not how to ride a bike, but some of the wonderful adventures you can have on one. Indeed, my favorite impromptu adventure is the Near Miss. Today's Near Miss comes courtesy of one shiny blue 2007 Toyota Camry.

Let's see. The innocent protagonist is riding his beloved Peugeot mountain bike (also blue, coincidentally) to the local corner store to procure some liquid refreshment.

Since there are no cars stopped at the light right before the store, he hops his bike onto the sidewalk and presses the button for the crosswalk, rather than pointlessly standing in the bike lane as the traffic light ignores him. The light changes. The little white man beckons. As he crosses the street he notices a car approaching from his right. He notices that it's closing quickly. Very quickly. Our protagonist mashes the pedals as he realizes that the driver is planning on making a rolling right turn, and has enough time to utter a very loud, very startled expletive as he clears the front bumper of the car moments before it comes to a halt several feet past the end of the crosswalk. He catches a glimpse of the driver's startled face as her head swings around, her gaze having been transfixed on the oncoming lane of traffic to her left...

She just didn't see me.

She didn't see me, because she wasn't looking. I'm sorry, when you approach an intersection with a red light, your primary focus should be on actually stopping for the light. Once you've obeyed the letter of the law by stopping for an instant, you may do as you please. However, may I ask that you stop before you've driven through the crosswalk?

As she drove away I noticed on the back of the Camry - what else? - a bike rack.

Fatal hit-and-run suspect surrenders

From the PI:

A 23-year-old Puyallup man suspected of fatally hitting a Sumner bicyclist with his car Monday and leaving the scene has surrendered to police, authorities said.

The man, joined by his attorney, turned himself in to Pierce County sheriff's deputies in Tacoma on Friday around noon, Puyallup Police Department Cmdr. Bryan Jeter said. He was then placed under arrest.

Jeter didn't know whether the suspect has made any statements regarding the hit-and-run that killed John "Chip" Murrell McRae III, 51, in the 2600 block of East Main Street in Puyallup.

Investigators have linked the man to the fatality based on witness descriptions and the 2005 Cadillac STS that struck McRae.

"He was seen in it in and around that time," Jeter said. "He is our prime suspect."

The suspect was booked into Pierce County Jail on suspicion of vehicular homicide and felony hit-and-run.

Well, that didn't take long - only about a week. John McRae died on Monday, and the prime suspect is finally in custody. Looks like his parents hired him he retained the services of an attorney, too. (I'd hate to unfairly impugn his parents in this matter. It's entirely possible he turned out a toolbag without any assistance from them). Isn't that nice. I supposed the good counselor advised him that fleeing from police was unlikely to endear him to the court.

I was supposed to post something constructive, but I'm too upset right now. Ride safe out there people, and watch your six. I mean it.

Driver named and photos released in Puyallup cyclist death

Technically, I shouldn't use the term 'driver' in the title of this post, since the person pictured below is merely the owner of the vehicle, matched witnesses descriptions, and is now apparently on the run from police. He has not yet been convicted of a crime, although an arrest warrant was supposed to be issued today.

Feast your eyes.



According to KING5, these two are now on the run from police. Apparently the male (driver) is also a convicted felon and should be unable to leave the country. Well, that makes me feel better.

From KIRO TV:

An arrest warrant will be issued Friday for a man police said caused the hit-and-run death of a bicyclist in Puyallup.

Police said as 51-year-old John "Chip" McRae III was cycling down East Maine Street Monday when he was struck and killed by a silver Cadillac STS.

Police said 23-year-old Blair Jenson owns the Cadillac that killed McRae and have identified him as a "person of interest." Jensen may be with his girlfriend 20-year-old Christina Ripple. Jensen and Ripple may be driving in her vehicle, a white 2008 Toyota Scion TC Coupe with the Washington license plate 523XEM, Puyallup police said.

And:

Puyallup police said they found the vehicle involved in the cyclist's death on Tuesday. Officers said the vehicle was damaged as was expected after such an incident.

“Anyone harboring or protecting him is, in our minds, rendering criminal assistance so they need to give us his location,” said Lt. Dave McDonald of the Puyallup Police Department.

Authorities said Jensen is a convicted felon and cannot legally leave the country.

Puyallup police have sent the attempt to locate bulletin to police agencies across the state including the border patrol and the Sea-Tac airport police.

KING 5 also put up a series of images related to the crash. Here's the car.



I think it's fairly clear that the driver wasn't exactly obeying the speed limit at the time of the crash.



If you really want, follow the link to the KING 5 article and view the rest of the photos. Not exactly the most upbeat viewing material for a Friday.

I'll close with some appropriately enraged commentary. I can do that, right?

This guy has now proven that not only is he a complete and utter toolbag who is so hopelessly lame that he has to race people on Main street in a car that is usually driven by men in the acute stages of a midlife crisis, he's incredibly, painfully, awe-inspiringly stupid as well. The pathetic attempt to hide the crime after leaving the scene was just the beginning. Now, he's running from police. Well, if we didn't have an admission of guilt before, this should pretty much do it.

Thanks, Mr. Jenson. You've just bolstered the state's case. Traffic laws are incredibly lenient, although this state is better than most. Still, the more crimes you commit, the less likely it is that a judge is going to be nice to you when it comes to sentencing.

...

I'm going to go for a long, long ride (and yes, some of it will be on roads) and clear my head. Then, tomorrow, I'm going to write something about cars, fast cars, my love for said fast cars, responsibility, and physics - all things I've been thinking about a great deal the past few days.

More ugly details in Puyallup hit and run

I missed this item on King5 yesterday:

Witnesses say John McRae III was riding his bike down Main Street in Puyallup at roughly 8 p.m. when he was hit from behind.

Pieces of evidence left at the scene suggest the driver knew he hit McRae.

"It's over 300 feet of debris, so we think the victim was drug," said Lt. Dave McDonald, of the Puyallup Police Department. "So this is not a brush off the shoulder into the ditch. The victim was left in the middle of the street."

McRae, a 51-year-old from Sumner, died at the scene, despite wearing a helmet.

Well, a helmet isn't going to do much good when you're dragged for 300 feet, then left in the middle of the street. We also get:

The car is registered to a Puyallup woman and to 23-year-old Blair Jensen. Since Jensen matches the description of the driver seen by witnesses, police call him a "person of interest" in the case. They want to talk to him immediately.

Jensen is not considered a suspect.

Whoever is responsible will likely face vehicular homicide charges for causing the death of John McRae.

I don't get it. Get caught on camera for speeding, and the owner of the car is not only a suspect, but in most jurisdictions, considered guilty by the preponderance of evidence (a few crappy photos triggered by a sensor). Here, we actually have witnesses, and the apparent driver isn't even a suspect?

Full story here.

At least vehicular homicide is a Class A felony in this state, with a max term of life. I bet he gets a couple years, if he gets anything at all. A cyclists life isn't worth much, even in this state.

Police find car suspected in Puyallup hit-and-run

I'm following this story because I'm not far from Puyallup (in fact, I'll be there this weekend), and while I don't plan on doing any riding there, I'm curious to see how this case pans out. There seems very little doubt that the driver is at serious fault. From the News Tribune:

Puyallup police have impounded the car believed to be involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash Monday night and were looking for its driver.

A damaged silver Cadillac STS was found about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. It had been abandoned in the 1200 block of Ninth Street Southeast, Puyallup police Cmdr. Bryan Jeter said.

Investigators have identified a person of interest in the incident and were looking for the 23-year-old man Tuesday night. The News Tribune is not identifying the man because he’s not been charged in the case.

John McRae III, a 51-year-old Sumner father of three sons, was riding a bike in the 2300 block of East Main Street when he was hit by a car about 8:10 p.m. The car didn’t stop.

Witnesses provided a description of the car to investigators. Someone called Herb’s Towing on Monday morning to request a tow of the abandoned car, Jeter said. The tow operator found the car, noticed its damage and called police at 10:30 a.m.

“When they saw the condition of it, they called us,” Jeter said. “It was definitely wrecked, and there was blood on it.”

The damage on the car was consistent with striking McRae, police reported. Investigators also were looking into the possibility the car was racing another driver at the time of the crash. Police identified and interviewed the other driver, Jeter said.

“It’s a distinct possibility, but we haven’t confirmed that yet,” he said.

McRae worked as a computer technician. His family has asked for privacy.

The ugly details of this incident keep piling up. Not only did this worthless piece of shit leave someone lying in the road to die, he (and I'm pretty sure it's a he, regardless of whether the police have enough evidence to bring charges yet and make an arrest) had the temerity to call a tow for his wrecked car - without even bothering to wash off the blood.

Either he's simply an amoral psychopath, or he's just incredibly stupid. I'm voting for the latter.

This is the main reason that my regular ride only has about half a mile of road in it - the part where I get to the trail, and get back from another trail. I just don't trust people. Granted, riding in the road here is vastly less dangerous than the last place I lived on the outskirts of Cleveland. Ohio is just a huge wasteland of trucks and SUVs and asphalt. If people ride, they ride MTB or on bike paths. I wouldn't want to get into an argument with a midwest redneck about who has a right to the road.

Here, things are different. The prevalence of cyclists, and the courtesy/timidity level of most drivers make for a fairly harmonious environment. Of course, there are always outliers, and it only takes one careless asshole, after all. And who wants to be killed by a statistical anomaly? I guess the only thing worse would be to be killed by clerical error, Brazil-style. One way or another, though, you're still dead.

RIP Mr. McRae. My heart goes out to your family.

As for me, I'm going riding.

Hit and run driver kills cyclist in Puyallup

Great. This kind of thing always makes excellent reading before you go out for a ride. From the Seattle Times:

Puyallup police are asking for help identifying the driver of a Cadillac that killed a bicyclist in a hit-and-run Monday evening.

The victim, a man in his 50s, has not yet been identified.

The driver struck the cyclist in the 2600 block of East Main Avenue then fled eastbound on East Main at 8:10 p.m., Puyallup police said.

Witnesses said the man was driving recklessly before the collision, police said.

Full story here.

Technium CityLite dumpster rescue (II)

I would like to point out that these posts aren't happening in direct chronology with the images. I started that project, then started this project, but I wanted to break the narrative up into logical chunks and make it accessible in case someone else has one of these bikes. There's very little information about this particular model on the web, although I found pictures of someone else's (road) Technium fixed-gear conversion on Flickr.

I'm not sure I would have turned such a complete and (from the pictures) barely ridden geared road bike into a fixed gear, but that's just me. Regardless, there's no arguing that he did a fantastic job with the frame, and almost certainly spent a lot more time with it than I did. I also can't deny that it was helpful to have someone else's project as a reference.

Which is why I'm posting this. Uh.

Oh, if you have a 54-52 cm Technium road bike, and you want to sell/give it to me, that'd be great. Preferably a nice clean one like the aforementioned Flickr dude's. Thanks.

Anyway. At this point I had a stripped and fairly rust free frame and fork. I masked the aluminum sections, including the aluminum rings that butt the tubes together. Prep was limited to washing the steel sections with degreaser, and using a self-etching primer.


I did spray some of the previously rusted areas with a one-step rust conversion and then sanded off the residue before priming. This is a good idea if you're lazy and don't want to grind out every single pit of rust, or simply don't want to remove half the dropout in the process, for example. Hopefully your frame hasn't been neglected like this one.


The head tube logo is cast aluminum and has two pegs that simply press into the holes in the head tube. You can (carefully) pry it off with a flat-head screwdriver.


Primed and ready to paint.

For some reason I didn't take any pictures of the bare frame after the final paint coat, possibly because of inhaling too many paint fumes. Or something. Here's how it turned out, though:

I just put a random road seat on it to be able to get a feel for how it rides. Still need to go to a single chainring up front, and install a rear brake since I tend to ride on loose surfaces quite a bit.

Oh yeah, and that fork and headset is from a Trek 850 I had lying around. I'll explain that later. Now if you'll excuse me, it's staggeringly gorgeous outside, and I'm going riding.

Technium CityLite dumpster rescue

Ok, so this wasn't technically a dumpster rescue, as it wasn't in a dumpster. Whatever. I was doing my regular out-and-back along the gas pipelines in Renton, when I spotted this frame on the side of the road. It looked a mess, and from it's placement someone had thrown it over a privacy fence from a house that was being renovated. Trash pickup was that day on that particular street.

Since I have a fondness for picking things out of the trash, I rode over and checked it out. Two things caught my eye: the Raleigh heron/loon/whatever it is badge/you know/thingy on the headtube, and this label.


I used to have a steel lugged Raleigh 10 years ago that I put a set of mountain bike chainrings and cranks on, and loved dearly. I ended up selling it to some dude for 20 bucks, and didn't touch another bike for almost a decade, which is a tragedy, but whatever.

I guess I've been living in a box, because I didn't know that Raleigh used bonded aluminum and steel frames in it's Technium series of bikes (with some exceptions in very recent cases, where they might be welded aluminum). Of course this begged further investigation, so I went and got the van and tossed it in the back.

It looked like shit.


Never even mind the fact that the chain was rusted solid, and all the various chromed bits were corroded. The riser handlebars filled me with a powerful loathing. Ugly and inefficient. A win-win for the upright seating position. No matter - all that stuff was coming off in any case.

Another interesting point was the awe-inspiring front cantilevers.

I can't attest to their stopping power, as I haven't reinstalled them, and don't intend to. Someone else with an original CitySport/Lite/whatever it is can do that. The CityLite appears to be popular around here, possibly because they were manufactured right down the road in Kent. About the only data I've been able to find on them was that they were offered with 26 inch wheels. Indeed, a set of old mountain bike wheels dropped right in. The original wheelset included a rear drum brake, although the frame is (apparently) drilled for a rear brake.

Interesting.

I bet it shares the rear triangle with other steel Raleigh frames of the period. I guess the drum brake tied into the whole 'practicality above all' aesthetic of the bike. I've seen original ones on craigslist, recently, and it's just stunningly ugly. Taste is of course subjective, and thus not up for discussion. It's ugly.

Not that I care - all that I care about is that frame.

Without further ado, I stripped the frame of parts, and then of paint. I know you're not supposed to use paint stripper on a bonded frame, so if anyone can explain how the paint stripper can penetrate into the bonded joint, I'll be happy to listen. I'm certainly not using heat to remove paint on a bonded joint.

Whatever. Stripping was a quick and extremely nasty process, as anyone who's done it can attest. The results were seriously cool, though.


A wire brush makes quick work of getting off the loose paint and stripper, and also tends to fling it around. I'd recommend safety glasses. Oh, and please do this outside. The aluminum cleaned up beautifully with some steel wool. The corrosion on the dropouts and rear triangle didn't take long to scrub out with a flexible abrasive disc.

I know I should have driven out the headset races before stripping, but it was due for replacement anyway, so I left it in, as I actually wanted to mostly assemble the bike and ride it around at least a little so I'd know whether I liked it well enough to finish the project. I know that doesn't make any sense.