Killing It

   After watching Team Sky's evil empire dominate grand tour races this summer, I had a discussion this weekend with my brother-in-law about how their performance is negatively affecting pro cycling. By coincidence, on Steephill.tv a link appeared to an interesting podcast on the same subject – the words “dollar doping” came up during the conversation.

   I most often watch British Eurosport coverage of pro cycling, and the commentators don’t seem to mind, in fact they practically slobber over Chris Froome and “their guys” on Team Sky. However, as I’ve mentioned before, Brits like their top-heavy pro sports – not counting Leicester’s miraculous win two seasons ago, only FOUR different teams have claimed the top spot in the last TWENTY-NINE seasons, and they see nothing wrong with that?!!

   Being cynical, I could point out that the performance-enhancing drug talk has vanished as mysteriously as the “accidental steroid order” appeared at Team Sky’s door. More realistically, I will point at the team’s huge budget and their ridiculously strong lineup, which is absolutely loaded with riders who have won World Tour events, Olympic medals, national and world championships.

   When one team is so dominant, not only does it create boring races for non-Froome/Sky fans, but it also turns away sponsors, who want results and exposure for the athletes that wear their product logos on their jerseys and shorts. As much as the smaller teams get by with putting their riders out in breakaways during the Tour de France, etc., I don’t think World Tour teams will survive with such racing scraps.

   This is important to consider when Cannondale-Drapac, one of pro cycling’s most visible teams, recently announced that the withdrawal of a major sponsor would leave a $7 million budget deficit for 2018. Amazingly, their parent company, Slipstream Sports, has raised over $5 million through a crowd-funding campaign, but what a sad situation to be in when donations are needed to save one of your sport’s standard squads!

   Perhaps there is a promising trend occurring within the Sky ranks, as several high-profile members have become tired of playing second (third, fourth?) fiddle to teammates and decided to move on to more prominent roles with other teams. So far, I’ve counted the departures of Mikel Landa, Ilia Viviani, Peter Kennaugh, Mikel Nieve and Diego Rosa – not easy holes to fill, until they just start throwing more money around.

   I completed the swap of parts between the two Colnago bicycles, and most of the work went smoothly, although I accidentally grabbed the wrong set of cable housings that I had pre-cut for another project. They didn’t have the proper amount of slack to allow smooth turning of the handlebars, so I knew that the mistake had been made right away. A bit of wasted time, but no big deal.

   The rain cleared out today, so I was able to give the Master X-Light a test spin on my favorite Belgium-ish Route that features a bunch of short climbs and some rough roads – the ride quality was fantastic! No, I couldn’t quite dance up the hills like when I’m on my carbon fiber Cannondale, but this Colnago isn’t exactly a beast. Its frame is made from some of the lightest steel tubing available, and punchy climbers like myself can appreciate that there is virtually no flex in the bottom bracket, so there is minimal loss of power in the pedal stroke.

   However, the real difference is felt in the way the bike absorbs vibration. I’ve ridden on this route, which traverses a good amount of broken asphalt, with aluminum and carbon fiber bikes plenty of times in the past, and there is nothing like the plush ride of a steel frame!

   As mentioned last week when considering moving the parts between the bikes, I just didn’t think the triple group originally included on the MX-L was appropriate for a racing bike. Instead, I purchased a Campagnolo Centaur double group for the blue C-97, much like the components featured on the bike when I built it years ago (during another Colnago part swap) but had upgraded since.

   At last I was able to find some Mavic 451 brake levers and put the long-term Vitus 992 Lotto Team bicycle project to rest. The bike looks fantastic, if I do say so myself:

The bikes mentioned above are now listed on my FOR SALE page. I received a bunch of other parts in the mail today, and will have an opportunity to polish off a couple other builds that had been on hold for a while. Check in next week!