TCX on a diet: Pt 2

So after Cross race #1 (Charm City) I came away with three observations:

1) Cross is a lot of fun and I can't wait to do the next one.

2) Cheap SPD pedals are not ideal for cross. This is from my limited experience, but I couldn't clip in to save my life after remounting during the race. I don't know how much it impacted the race, but I spent a lot of time cursing my pedals between gasps for air on Sunday.

3) I don't know didly-squat when it comes to tire pressure or tire tread..or for that matter anything about cross (other than it is awesome)...but as a result I was sliding around a lot in the corners towards the latter part of the race on Sunday.

So to remedy my three observations:

1) I'd like to do the weekend double the weekend of kelley acres and hagerstown. These are both far away, so it may take some convincing of "the boss", but she had fun on Sunday..so maybe. I'm really looking forward to our race in Hyatsville in October.

2) I picked up some egg beater pedals from my favorite shop of all time (Arrow MF-ing Bikes) and I'm hoping that they work better than the SPD pedals. It looks like there is a little more float and they'll be easier to clip in..what do I know though. We'll see.

3) I won a set of Bontrager Jones CXR 700x34 tires for finishing third in the 4 race and they look like they are more aggressive than the Kenda smallblockeights that came with the bike. They do look cooler on the bike, so I can only assume they'll make me faster. We'll see.

So after swapping out the two tires and pedals, the weight of my huge TCX dropped from 20.2 to 19.6 pounds. Does it feel good to be a new member of the sub 20 pound club? Yes it does.

I'm thinking the next easy swap is going to be the seat post...and maybe I'll get rid of the valve caps on the tires.

Cheers


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My TCX is on a diet - Part 1

I weighed my stock Giant TCX 1 (XL) and it came in at 21.2 pounds. I figured I'd swap out the wheels from the road bike to the cross bike for Charm City since I haven't ridden in two weeks and I'm bored. :) I don't know if the weight savings was significant for cross..as I've never actually raced cross..but the result was a loss of 1 pound (down to 20.2 lbs) and the bike looks a lot cooler than with the Mavic CXP 22s.

What do you think?

I think next is to get rid of the top bar brakes and move to a single front chainring setup.

I'm such a loser and am more into making bikes look fast as opposed to actually making them go fast.

Cheers.

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