Syntace C3 Aerobars - 1st Impressions

(see 1 year after report here)



(Artist's rendering of the "Johnny Cash" bridge without chainlink bike barrier)

After days of welcome rain, the skies cleared yesterday, and with temps in the low 60s I headed out for a nice 33 mile ride from my front door to Beal's Point at Folsom Dam. It was the first good outing for my new Syntace C3 aerobars with the "Double Helix Bend" kinkiness that is supposed to support better climbing and produce less shoulder and upper back stress. If nothing else, they'd make great sock drying racks.


The new bridge gives us bikers on the American River Parkway Trail - bought, built and maintained by bikers for bikers at the turn of the last century - our own spectacular underpass. No more weaving through construction zones, forests of orange hazard cones, movable chainlink barriers, and the occasional earthmover or three. There is an 8' tall chainlink barrier, with rolls and rolls of razor-wire on top to keep Al Queda from blowing the bridge supports (roll eyes), but that barrier is all that will keep you from falling head-first 200" into the river below. It makes for a breathtaking view I just have to get some photos of.


I couldn't help myself, and did a bit of racing near the bottom of the descent. The trail is rough and broken in places, but once the descent straightened out a bit I was able to catch and pass my rival. In spite of braking and killing most of my speed to avoid a head-on collision, I ended up on the wheel of a pair of riders I passed going up a short hill. Riding together and drafting into a decent 10mph headwind, they caught me a half mile later. I was surprised how long it took them to rejoin me, and pleased I could pull them for another mile or so before tiring. We took turns at the front of the draft until they peeled off at Hazel St and headed for the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.

The wind along the west side of the lake is pretty strong, getting funneled into a narrows flanked by a steep embankment of 150ft or so. The effect of the aerobars was pretty obvious there, and later as I powered home on the bike trail from Hazel to Sunrise.

My upper back is a bit sore today as the hunched position seems to have aggravated an old injury sustained in an auto accident, but not cripplingly so. I have hated ALL of the aerobars I have tried before, but these are much kinder on the back and I am really liking them, so I hope the back strain issues will not prevent me from using them. Part of the problem is my unfamiliarity with them, which is causing me to ride tensed. I kept catching myself and relaxing during the ride. So much nicer riding relaxed.

The climb up to Beal's is from 5-9% grade, and I did all of that climbing in the aerobars. My neighbor who is riding Syntace SLS bars warned me I would not be able to climb in the bars, so I was quite happy he was proved wrong. They are also quite stable in turns, and I think that is because having the elbow pads behind the main bar, the normal biometric motions that make for turning left or right work as expected.

My goals for the bars were to increase my average riding speed, and to get an alternative, comfortable position for long, flat rides. We have a lot of very flat land around Sacramento if you ride down-river, as indicated in my ATOC coverage. Of course, if you head up river you are into some very serious mountains in 15-20 miles. I am happy to report that these bars provide a VERY comfortable position to ride in - cushy even. I find myself favoring these bars when the road gets rough or broken because the combo of the fork, stem, bars, and bar pads makes for a Lazy-Boy recliner comfortable ride - even over 2-3" asphalt washboard.

I made a few changes after a trial ride as follows.

1. Moved the seat back 7mm
2. Lowered the nose of the seat 5-7mm
3. Raised the tips of the aerobars 30mm

The aerobars are mounted as far apart as I can get them on my FSA wing handlebars, and the pads are within 5mm of their widest position, which produces a nice clean line at the end of the pad mounts. I have wide shoulders, so I am riding a 46cm bar with "lots" of drop - not that any of the current crop of Wunder Bars seems to have much drop. Riding in the drops on a bar with classic drop dimensions will add 1-1.5mph to your speed, more in the wind, but gimmicks such as shallow drops and short reaches seem to be ruling marketing departments right now. At any rate, I opted for the full drop bars, not the compact bars.

Assuming my low back flexibility issues won't prevent it, I'll probably flip my stem to get the aerobars into a lower position, as I think they are still a bit too high. I wouldn't mind having the drops be actual drops, and if I don't have to ride in them too much, in favor of riding on the hoods or on the aerobars, I think I will have a better set of trade-offs. I'm also considering a front brake handle on the left bar and rear shifter on the right bar so I have my most important controls on the aerobars. The danger seems to be during the transition from the main bars to the aeros and back, so I'd like to eliminate as many of those transitions as possible.

I have thought about going to a long, droop-nosed saddle for climbing, and the forward position those saddles are designed to support, but that purchase has been escalated now because the forward position, and more position choices in general, are needed with the aerobars. At this point I can see myself spending 80% of my riding time in the aerobars, if the injury history of my upper back and shoulder allows it. Spending that much time in a more streamlined position will help on long Century rides - long on the clock - and plowing through strong headwinds out in the Delta this summer.

In summary, in spite of a long layoff due to rains, using these bars made for one of the fastest and most comfortable rides yet up to Beal's point, and with a little luck, will prove a great addition to my bag of riding tricks. I highly recommend the C3 aerobars.

Stage 8 - No Tomorrow

"Saint" Lance's gritty, iron, determination shows

For those race fans asleep under a rock on another planet, welcome back, and let me tell you, the story of the 2009 ATOC was the absolute iron grip Astana had on the race from Stage 2's Bonne Doon road break-away by Levi Leipheimer onward. That effort by Leipheimer and Popovych cemented their control over the race for all of the remaining stages. The only time that was in jeopardy was in the Solvang Time Trial, and Levi used that to put the nail in the coffin of any other rider's aspirations for a winning the overall CG.

Rewinding a day to Stage 7, I have to say I was amazed at how easy these riders made Stage 7's climb up to 5,000 ft seem. They have some serious power in those legs and they can keep putting it down for an hour or more if the climb requires it. Btw, I have a nice bike calculator I found online which calculates power from speed and vis-versa. Based on the calculator, when Cavendish hit 51mph, out-sprinting both Hincapie and Thor Hushovd, he was generating 2,292 watts! Mark's got quite an engine there. :D (I've found this calculator to be pretty accurate, and used it extensively to inform my choice of 46/38/24 gearing)

I was, of course, very sorry to see Francisco Mancebo hit a rock and crash out of the race. I was going to mention sand on the road as a factor in the race after the rains, but rocks are an equal hazard in the San Gabriels. They aren't as decomposed as the rock in the Marin Headlands at the north end of the Golden Gate bridge, which will crumble into a mini avalanche of rock if you simply kick it with a good hiking boot, but that sandstone is pretty hazardous on the road right after a rain. I have to think Mancebo would have challenged Team Astana on the Cole Grade climb and changed the complexion of the race.

As it was there were a lot of tired legs, and a handful of notable names dropped out of the race from fatigue and futility. This may well have been Lance's best day too, as he crushed any hope of a run at Team Astana with the savage pace he led the Peleton with on the Cole Grade climb. Nobody had the legs to attempt a breakout off the front of the Peleton, and the Peleton had already been shattered into 2 or more pieces by the pace of the first long climb up to Mt Palomar.

On the descent from Palomar I saw the first really talented descender of the race - Vincenzo Nibali. He was smooth through his line, his positioning on the bike - whether sitting up, tucked over the drops, or chest on his hands resting on the tops of his bars - was well chosen for the tightness of the turns, grade, and speed. His transitions from these positions were well-anticipated and smooth - never rushed or twitchy.

Above all though, the one thing that made his skill obvious was the way he stuck his inside knee out into the wind to pull himself through turns. This not only moves your center of gravity well inside the line of the turn, but by plowing through the wind 18" from the centerline of the bike, it's like an inside air-brake that sucks you through the turn. It's something you see all the time from motorcyclists, but not nearly often enough from bicyclists. This small addition to technique can save your life if you take a bad line through a turn and need every last advantage to get you through it. The small amount of extra drag is usually more than offset by your ability to carry extra speed into the turn.

(To kill a lot of speed quickly if approaching a turn too fast, sit up, stick both knees and elbows out in a figure 8, and brake lightly over the front of the hoods with both brakes - then tuck all but the inside knee in and get low in the drops, putting your outside foot all the way down, thigh pressing lightly against the top tube to prevent wheel shimmy. Resume the same "dirty" aero position to kill more speed, once through the turn, if necessary.)

Descending down from Mt Lassen on a tour, loaded with 50lbs in my panniers, I was horrified to watch as my front brake pads began to melt, liquefy and pour off the back of the brake while I plummeted down an 8% grade into a hairpin turn. These techniques and a divine wind of about 80mph right at the turn are all that saved me. I ended up stopped about 3 inches from a solid stone barrier and a 1,500ft sheer drop. The next day in Quincy I bought a pair of Scott Mauthauser high temp brake pads and never used black rubber pads on that bike again. The magic ingredient in those pads? Iron oxide. Kool-Stop bought the patent on them years ago, so now most of us ride them. I don't know who was more shook up, me or my wife at the time, who was a quarter mile behind watching in horror as I careened toward a certain death. More so than in most things, in biking, small things matter a lot.

Stage 8 was all it was cracked up to be, a long steep climb followed by a short very steep climb. The Mt Hamilton climb from Stage 3 in 2008 is shorter than Mt Palomar, but is at least as steep as Cole Grade. Mt Hamilton done from the Patterson side also comes after an 8-10% grade from Franke Raines Regional Park to the little town of San Antonio. The descent down San Antonio Rd to the base of the Mt Hamilton climb is a great relief, and a lot of fun - until you realize you are going go have to climb back every last foot of that descent to get up to Mt Hamilton. Both Cole Grade and Mt Hamilton are rated "hors catagorie" - beyond categorization. Mt Hamilton averages about 9% with pitches up to 25% grade. You can ride it as the Lick Observatory ride in the Canyon Classic if you like a challenge. I'll be there.

Aside from the dominance of Astana and Leipheimer, the other standout was the crowd. Reported to be at 2 million for the race overall, it beat my estimate of 1 million handily. On the all-important Stage 2 day I couldn't get into the Tour Tracker as it was maxed out at 100,000 viewers. I hope the race organizers will offer a DVD of the entire ride with some of the interviews and other coverage that didn't make it into the Tour Tracker environment.

I have been Googling around to try to find out what the total race attendance is for the Giro d'Italia, but I have to think the Amgen Tour of California is now nipping at the Giro's heels in terms of fan participation, and increasingly, in importance for professional teams and their sponsors. I wish for all the riders, especially those who crashed, a speedy recovery and quick return to racing. Thank you Amgen for the many lives you've saved, and for sponsoring a fabulous event and a fantastic spectacle.



PS: My sympathies to my Blogspot friend Rachael on losing her friend Dean. May his after-life be as fruitful and rewarding as this one.

Stage 7 Predictions

Tomorrow's route could well be called "short and brutal". I know the route fairly well as I used to bike up to Mt Wilson from Pasadena, the descent route for Stage 7. After the tragic crash of Aeromexico flight 498 in 1986, I, and many other pilots found it safer to fly through the San Gabriel mountains than risk the over-burdened corridor between the Rose Bowl and Van Nuys created when the LAX ATC was closed to small aircraft. The route I used to fly was the climbing route for tomorrow's stage. The idea being that if things got quiet under my toes I could land the plane on the road.

The descent down Angeles Crest Highway will be a very fast one. I used to climb up to Mt Wilson, a nice 4,000 ft climb, just to get my thrills flying through those curves coming down. I'm sure the road will be closed tomorrow, but Angeles Crest is the playground of Ducs and Kaws and other exotic crotch rocket farm animals. About 10:00 AM the ambulances would start showing up to recover those whose luck and skill ran out before fate was done with their day. They didn't really like sharing the road with a "glider" as it turns out! :D Speaking of gliders, Mt Wilson is also a favorite place for hang-gliders to launch from, and on a good day one can glide all the way to the beach - it's a mile high. Fun times.......

All of this is by way of saying that the climbers, and especially, good descenders, should be the stars tomorrow, and I look for Mancebo and Levi to feature prominently in the day's drama. The big question is how much the riders have left in their legs at this stage. Levi showed today that he is the strongest rider in the race, bar none. There's no place to hide in a time trial - but it doesn't give much consideration of how much weight that strength comes with. Climbing does. Landis hasn't really been a factor, and one has to assume whatever factor he'd be will be saved for his home turf on Sunday.

I'll be watching with special interest, given my familiarity with the terrain, but it should be the best stage yet, or at least as interesting as stage 4, and as scenic. I expect Mt Baldy will have a snow cap and the San Gabriels should be dark green with vegetation this time of year. I look forward to a great race on an epic day. Let the games begin!

Stage 5 Results