I’m not going to lie to you, friction is an asshole. In the bottom bracket, in the bending of every single link in your chain as it rolls over the cogs and threads its way through the rear derailleur, and in the pulleys themselves, the devils. I cleaned out my rain bike last weekend after a few rides where I was forced to neglect my usual daily maintenance routine and they puked up chunks of grit before they started moving lightly again. Every turn of the pedals, each of those points of friction adds up and take away from your Maximum V Potential at any given moment.
While this next point is true for Cycling in general, it is true for climbing in particular: the trick to riding well is to keep turning the pedals at your current rhythm. Failing that, you just wind up being less awesome than you were a moment earlier. Speed is like time; you can never get it back (it might also be money, but the math is hard to sort out.) You worked hard to get going as fast as you were, and slowing down just means you lose all that effort. What’s worse, if you want to get going that fast again, you have to do all that same work all over again, and even then, you’re just back to where you were, except a little lighter on the V Potential.
Friction may well be an asshole, but its not as big an asshole as gravity. The acceleration of gravity is 9.8 meters per second squared, which means that climbing at a sustained speed is basically like accelerating constantly; in order to climb at that rate, you’re accelerating enough to neutralize the pull from gravity which is trying its best to drag you back down the hill. Not to mention that you’re working against all that friction in your drivetrain.
To summarize, friction and gravity are assholes.
With these two points in mind, earlier this year I had Café Roubaix build me some lightweight climbing wheels. I didn’t really know what climbing wheels are good for, but I wanted to try some and I was thinking that any weight advantage I could find would be a good thing with respect to the winter months and the associated packing on of the wrong kind of weight in the engine room. 970 grams, you say? That sounds good – I’ll have them, thanks.
The first surprise was the box they arrived in, which I was certain must have been empty. Mounting them with tires and a cassette, I got used to how they felt in my hands. Funny how weight works; you grow accustomed to it. When I went to place them in the bike I first removed my rear Zipp 404 from the frame, which in comparison felt like an anchor.
They looked the business installed, but photos do a better job describing that. On to the riding. The first pedal stoke felt good; responsive and light. But nothing crazy, once I got going a bit. There was some more snap, for sure, but it wasn’t like I’d just had a blood transfusion on the second rest day of the Tour or anything like that. But on the hills the world turns on its head as the acceleration of gravity rejoins the conversation. The steeper the gradient, the more the wheels shine; simply put, they just keep spinning. Should you encounter a change in pitch for the worse, apply a touch of V and they spin up like a washing machine.
They almost converted me into a grimpeur. Almost. And, they help answer how the Pros move Sur La Plaque up giant mountains, absorbing changes in pitch like they’re nothing and accelerating away on the steepest sections. I am given to understand that talent and training play a part, but their climbing wheels don’t hurt either. The right tools make all the difference.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/CR Haleakala/”/]
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@tessar +1
When a Velominatus has a bunch of bike work to do, from some small refinements on a few bikes to something like regluing the whole set of tubular wheels, do they spread it out over the course of a few evenings or...take a weekend riding day off?
The VMH might not be so happy with a string of evenings and no face time, but the alternative is not pleasant either.
Those are some pretty sexy wheels Fronk (Dan). I've really had a carbone for murdered out wheels lately. Black rims, hubs, spokes, nipples, sidewalls, etc.
@tessar
1. Whilst reaching your finals (lots of study to be a mechanic?) it appears you may still be in need of more punching up at school.
2. Show me a 4 hour climb that is all "steady state" climbing and I will show you the Easter bunny. Even with a perfect & mythical constant gradient, there will be changes in pace and accelerations due to rider fatigue. So yes at those moments a lower moment of inertia in a lighter rim will be an advantage, however small.
3. If that wasn't the case then with a 6.8kg weight limit why wouldn't riders always opt for the most aero rims to use that advantage on descents?
@Gianni my diagnosis is that you were grabbing your brakes harder than Andy and Frank grab each other when they are brother- wrestling - which is wrong
@Jeff in PetroMetro
Too cool!
But Grand Forks, ND??? What's in Grand Forks? I know that when my VMH was in the Air Force and stationed there, there was not much of anything there! At least East Grand Forks across the river had the Blue Moose restaurant.
@frank All of my tubs have that bulge as well. Let me know if the toe strap thing works. Sounds a bit questionable to me but I would try it if it works!
@Nate
Oh yeah, I've done this. Such a pisser to finish gluing and then realize that the tread direction and arrows on the sidewalls are pointing in the wrong direction!
@Marcus
1. Biology-Physics double major - averaging 8 lecture-hours a day. I do my reading on the turbo.
2. Obviously, no climb is steady-state - but most of us are not quite Contador either. I never doubted a light rim is better than a heavier rim, but at the same time, it's not the defining metric of a wheel, either. All other things being equal, a lighter rim is an improvement, but consider that the extra weight we just accelerated carries with it more momentum which, in turn, slows down the rate of deceleration. A lighter rim will slow down quicker, too, when that rider fatigue breaks the pace. The point is that the defining force we're fighting against is total weight - rider, bike, rim, everything. Every other effect basically self-cancels to a degree (again, never perfectly).
3. You'd be surprised how many pro bikes still hover around 7kg. Quite a few sites do profile pieces on the bikes, and only few are bang on the limit. A lot of them ride aluminium components, SRMs, somewhat-padded saddles. It adds up to weight that, in the mountains, you can shave at the wheel. Also, the pros do attack and change rhythm in the mountains explosively. They also tend to do that on the flats. Lately, quite a few pro teams rode higher-profile wheels in the mountains, too. Campag's Bora is not shallow...
@Nate, @Gianni
Wait, are you guys talking about using your brakes? I thought they were just there to meet regulations.
@pistard
You'll have to stick with one color packs, then - our logo is designed to either be one color or with an orange cog. The Cog may not be any other color in a mult-color scenario. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
@Dr C
Have you sourced the materials yet for your wheels? If not, the moment you do is the moment you'll realize that the spokes are by far the heaviest part of your wheels. The most effective way to drop wheel weight is to reduce the number of spokes. I remember hedging our bets on how stiff the wheel would be with fewer spokes; I'd have to double check what we wound up with, but 22 sounds right. The wheels are laced up very tight, but they are plenty stiff.
My favorite wheels by far at this point.
@Chris
A PLUS FUCKING ONE.