Recently I spoke with New Belgium Brewery’s Bryan Simpson about the beer brewer’s bike infused libations, culture and bikes.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Listen in as Jason Scheirs talks about carbon technologies, processes and some of the future.  You can check out his company, Enve Composites on the web.

Above: section of a carbon rim, Below: the people of Enve

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

That’s right, you, the listeners’ chance to be part of the podcast yet again.  Beyond the email or attached photo, passed the free style outro message, light years ahead of the random call in, leave a message telling us about your favorite cycling related best moment, ride… whatever of 2011.  They will become part of the next podcast.  The number to call is 513.253.0180.

Powering up down under with some Power Domes

But first, it’s the impromptu Christmas Gift Podcast!  We loosely go over gift ideas to show that someone special how much you care.  Maybe to the well rehearsed and heavily scripted production normally associated with The Two Johns Podcast, rather a loose, freewheel’in list- We even go over a new category, the Bro gift!

Emails, emails and more emails… which category should I ride?  A harrowing melodrama of the podcast’s role in an Aussie relationship, Vittoria CX too fragile for Scottish Roadie?  Wheels or pit bike?  The Airing of Grievances and is aluminum the new carbon?  Dre reforms and now photographs his bike drive side on the camera side, will a trainer ruin my smooth pedaling technique?  Shotgun gives thanks for her expanded lexicon of cycling related words among other comments and are the Johns down with 420?  Answers abound in this, our best podcast of 2011.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

That’s right, you, the listeners’ chance to be part of the podcast yet again.  Beyond the email or attached photo, passed the free style outro message, light years ahead of the random call in, leave a message telling us about your favorite cycling related best moment, ride… whatever of 2011.  They will become part of the next podcast.  The number to call is 513.253.0180.

Powering up down under with some Power Domes

But first, it’s the impromptu Christmas Gift Podcast!  We loosely go over gift ideas to show that someone special how much you care.  Maybe to the well rehearsed and heavily scripted production normally associated with The Two Johns Podcast, rather a loose, freewheel’in list- We even go over a new category, the Bro gift!

Emails, emails and more emails… which category should I ride?  A harrowing melodrama of the podcast’s role in an Aussie relationship, Vittoria CX too fragile for Scottish Roadie?  Wheels or pit bike?  The Airing of Grievances and is aluminum the new carbon?  Dre reforms and now photographs his bike drive side on the camera side, will a trainer ruin my smooth pedaling technique?  Shotgun gives thanks for her expanded lexicon of cycling related words among other comments and are the Johns down with 420?  Answers abound in this, our best podcast of 2011.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Among the festivities that happened over the recent holiday I paid a visit to my former employer, bicycle mentor, Two Johns:  The Espresso roaster and friend, John Drake.  Podcast listeners will remember John from a couple coffee interviews and the frame builder’s special podcast.  He owns the fine bicycle shop, Bikeworks and Drake’s Fine Coffee Roasting.

It is always a treat to spend a few hours visiting him and his endeavors.  This time, John, some of my family members and friends had a post Thanksgiving mountain bike ride near Ann Arbor, MI.  After we were done gulping Mountain Dew, getting sweet air, and general hot doggery (for John G’s benefit) we retreated to one of the various back rooms.

First up was an education on coffee bean roasting.  With mechanical or process things, I believe knowing something intellectually is only knowing about something.  Knowing a process or an object involves engaging it.  In front of me was an opportunity to get to know coffee better by roasted it.

John, this is roaster, roaster, this is John.

Hello roaster.

Hello green coffee beans.

Early in the roast.

Mid roast, just starting to get color.

The roasted beans during their rapid cool down.

Despite having something to do just about every minute of the process, watch the color, watch the temperature, shift the airflow within the oven, listening for cracking two separate time… it all appeared to be very simple, under the direction of John telling me what to do.  Through experience he has developed this process and learned what observations indicate it is time for the next step.  Once the coffee was cooled, it was packaged, labeled and marked either for shipping for for retail sale.

The entire process is about having a great coffee bean.  Bean source, roasting process, and timely shipping consumption help the recipient have what is the full experience of the bean.

What does this have to do with cycling?  The next step was John showing me another of his back rooms.  This one, Bikeworks’ Studio, where bike fits are performed, bike design, component build out and servicing are done.  Beautiful examples of bikes line the walls, some old, some new all with the purpose to give someone an idea of what is possible for their new ride.  It is to work out all the things that make a difference.  Yes, the most humble of huffys functions as a bike, but to see the most a bike can be, attention needs to be paid to the details.

I remember learning how to cut a threaded steerer, more specifically, measure the head tube and the headset stack height so that once assembled the locking nut cinched the adjusting nut just before the top of the fork steerer touches the lock nut.  If your measure or cut is off, the steerer runs into the lock nut, too short and not as much thread engaged.  Not a huge deal, but not ideal, but it does make a a difference.  Like the length of cable housing, it can look cluttered and ungraceful, it will probably function that way too.  Even the feel of when you pull the cable, either the brake or shifter, to make sure the metal structure of the housing doesn’t rub against slight texture of the cable transmitting through the lever giving a notchy, less than smooth feel.  It feels right when you pull the lever and it feels like the cable runs from the cable, through helium, directly to the brake or derailleur.  It make a difference.

In the same vein, the recent article in Rouleur magazine, an interview with Valentino Campagnolo offers a window into what that company is about.  It has a deliberate focus on quality and serviceability is a uncommon today.  It is well worth the read.  My including it in the mention of my recent trip is because I see the same vein running through the Campagnolo interview that runs through the coffee roasting, bicycle manufacture and the people I experience it with.  That is one of the main reasons with how my relationship with cycling has changed and will continue to change, is why I continue to find so much in it & also probably why our listeners continue to join the ride.

By the way did I mention we sell coffee?

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Product Review: Avid Shorty Ultimate CX Cantilevers

Contact/Purchase: http://www.sram.com/avid/products/shorty-ultimate-rim-brake

Cost: $110 per pair

Test Supject: John G.

Bike: 2011 Felt FX15

Wheels: Either Bontrager XXX Lite Carbon tubular or Reynolds Stratus DV46 Carbon tubular

Location: Two Cyclocross races and counting, cx training

You can find me at da race

Bottle full of Cyctomax

Momma I got what you need

you need to slow down when it’s muddy

Released in late 2010, the Shorties combine a few features of other top-end canti’s into one super-cool brakeset.  I’ve been running the TRP EuroX Carbon for the past two seasons and beginning part of this one.  I still have the TRP’s on my pit bike, so I have had the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison (sometimes even in the same race).

SET UP

Because the springs are on the outside of the arms – i.e. not in between the frame’s cantilever boss and arm – you must make sure the frame’s braze-ons are smooth and free of paint.  In my case I had to use some 0000 emory paper to remove excess paint from the fork braze-ons.  Next, you can choose which position you would like to orient the brake arm – wide/standard, which allows for better mud clearance, or narrow for greater power.  I have seen some folks go wide in the front and narrow in the back, presumably for heel clearance when getting on and off your bike.  I chose to go narrow front and rear.

Follow the enclosed instructions carefully and choose the appropriate washer/spacer so the springs do not bind once you have tightened the fixing bolt.  Pad adjustment is very easy with one 4mm allen, the straddle cable anchor is well thought out with two different sized allens, and the straddle cable carrier is very straight forward with two fixing bolts.  Spring tension adjustment is unlimited and easily done with a 5mm and 15mm open end.  I used a fully sealed Gore Ride-On cables so I set the return tension a bit heavier – especially while the cables and ferrules settle in.

Lastly, I swapped the included standard road cartridge pads with some Yellow King SwissStop pads.  TAKE CARE when removing and re-insterting the pad retaining bolt.  It has a tiny allen head and like 3 threads on it.  Seems like it would be easy to mangle after a few pad changes.

THE RIDE

I’ve done two races on them, one muddy, one not muddy.  I did not notice more than normal amount of mud collecting around the fork crown or rear brake bridge.  They were smooth and stopped the bike.  I was doing bike changes during the mud race to my TRP-equipped bike.  It seemed like the Avids were slowing me down with less lever squeezing effort.  No brake chatter, smooth power.

The quick release is on the barrel side of the brake and is a bit tricky.  First, you have to make sure you don’t turn the barrel, thus adjusting the brake, and that the barrel assembly is properly re-seated when you close the brake.  You will get used to it once you take a close look at how the flat surfaces on the assembly are oriented with properly done.

One last observation is that because the spring is on the outside of the arm, the brakes themselves sit close to the fork and seat stays, so… when the straddle is released the brakes open only as far as the pads hitting the inside of the fork and seat stays.  This could be problematic if your tires are too fat to pass through the brake blocks.  It was not an issue for my fattest mud tires – a pair of Challenge Limus 33 tubulars.  The out side knobs do hit the pads, but just barely.  I have heard that SRAM/Avid is providing a fix for some of its sponsored racers in the form of an extender that pushes the arm out from the frame so the pads can open completely.  Again, I did not have an issue, even with my fattest tires.

CONCLUSION

Avid hit a home run.  They produced a brake that has an inline barrel adjuster, a two position arm, are easy to set up, don’t break the bank, and perform incredibly.  They get the John G. seal of approval.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

This is an all email podcast emanating from the heart of cyclocross season, containing perhaps our snarkiest submission yet from far and wide:  Dre does the double, a triathlete makes fun of roadies and Fun Run asks whether some of the British Spitfires would have trouble with Larry Langholm.

The relative size of this all email podcast is ten to the second.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

For the love of the game we are back for another fire side chat about the thing with two spoked wheels we love.   Now that we are at cruising altitude and in the fatty midsection of cyclocross season the love is back with all the warmth of the snap, crackle and pop of a vinyl album, smoothness of a campy hub and the rich flavor of a belgian brown ale we discuss what has been going on in our cycling lives- which would be cyclocross.  The technology segment makes an appearance which means one of two things:  either one of us got something we think is really cool or one of us had an equipment failure that we did not think was very cool.  Finally, the Creedmonster calls in to talk about the Cardinals and their baseball world series, but more importantly his efforts of putting a team to develop young cycling talent.  At the end of it, we are too tired to get to emails, check local listings and stayed tuned for our upcoming all email podcast.

Until then, you can view this enriching list of things the crafty Scottish have brought to our world.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Under the Site Stats for the podcast we can track all kinds of things: hits per day, what people click on, incoming links, and search string queries as typed into Google.  This one popped up today, “What happened to the Two Johns Podcast?”  I guess the short answer is bike racing – cyclocross racing to be specific.  I suppose the long answer is a bit, well, longer.  Everything about the cyclocross season seems to take more time (as opposed to road racing).  It takes longer to go around a 1.85 mile loop.  It takes longer to asses a course and figure out what kind of tire pressure to run.  It takes longer to get to the start line, strip down to the skin suit then wait for the call-ups and race start.  And, it definitely takes a much longer time in the garage Sunday night and now, it seems, bleeding over into Monday morning or night.  Bike maintenance is an incredible time suck when in comes to cyclocross.  Combine all the rain and mud we’ve been getting with one race bike one pit bike, one kids bike then throw in some double race weekends and you’ll see what I am talking about.

The podcast is not dead.  We are getting your emails and tweets.  We still hear you and we will be back… soon

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

My Giant Mini Velo Escape , my main commuting bike these days , a ringworm maxxis BMX tyre on the back running at 115 psi , front tyre shwabbe marathon , used black gorilla tape to disc them up , round the wheels are 2JPS Logos , during the dark nights i have a mixture of blue/red lights on the rucksack and bike , 5 white lights on the front , if i could only keep 1 bike this is the one I would have , crank it up and it flys. One day during the summer I flew round the batchwood roundabout [1 mile from home], some local workers Planting flowers on the roundabout] were amazed at the speed of the velo , i shouted Allez Allez , viva La France , they replied “Piss off you French Frog Bastard”
Canna beat the English Artisan worker Eh

Fun Run Robbie [Sir]

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com

Special Guest:  Robin Farina for a pre- World Championship Interview
Is Cavendish a worthy World Champion?  We think so, as we mull over the happenings in Copenhagen this past weekend.  John G digs into the depths of self help books to come to terms with the mostest, muddiest, slippiest cross race he has ever come across.  All this is a prelude to heaping helping of feedback from the likes of  the Aussie Fan, Doctor Big Love, PJ Blue Ribbon with questions  like, why is PBR popular with the cross crowd?  Wheels, wheels, wheels?  more questions of where to go from Ksyriums and the Foam Roleur shares SMART goals with his middle school class and wonders why he can’t close his water bottle as coolly and John G.

These wonderful texts are often accompanied by equally wonderful images.  Below we see Fun Run Robbie’s brother (a 26 min. 10M TT rider), with Fun Run’s Giant Mini Velo that recently took on the Ken Laidlaw Sportive in Hertfordshire.

And below we see the closest finish ever in a recumbent vehicle race.

As with each podcast we award the listener of the week with a t-shirt from our friends at Stomach of Anger.

Go to the Source – twojohnspodcast.missingsaddle.com