USI CYCLING

USI Banquet opens 2010 Season

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:52:21 -0500

The club celebrated the successes of 2009 and the start of 2010 with a great party with approximately 60 members, friends and guests at Vintage Bar and Restaurant in White Plains.

Member and drummer extraordinaire Brian Carter’s grooves had folks out on the floor for enjoying a little aerobic activity happily devoid of hills! Thanks to member John Wright we have a nice little album of pictures from the party. To see them click here!

In this picture shop manager Pedro accepts the Pelham Bicycle Center’s plaque thanking the shop for 5 years (and counting) of USI sponsorship. L-R are sponsor liaison Ed Cangialosi, VP Jorge Ferrer ad Pres Tim Compton.

2010 USI Banquet

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:00:02 -0500

At the 2010 USI Banquet the club is honoring our sponsors and our club in the overall points category, for road racing and multisport racing. Our points champion is also our club historian. Maria Settani led tons of rides and represented the club week in and week out leading rides and introducing USI to new people.

Congratulations and thank you Maria!

On the road the USI is honored to have Nancy Ford as our racing champion. Nancy was out racing in bkue with great results all season long!

Congratulations and thank you Nancy!

At sea as well as on land Darcy Ramsey continued her dominance in multisport and we’re proud to have her with USI.

Congratulations and thank you Darcy!

Our champions make USI look good on and off the bike!

A copy of the banquet booklet is reproduced here for all of our members that cannot attend the banquet this year.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 102nd year of the Unione Sportiva Italiana road show!

We would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsors for all their generosity and loyal support in the years past, and for the coming 2010 season.

Without our sponsors we might just be posers in pretty blue jerseys, but with their help and support our USI community is whole. We are proud to represent our sponsors at races and rides all over the world!

Thank you to everyone for coming out to celebrate a past year of great riding and new one just beginning. I hope you all enjoy the fine food, great company and swinging tunes of member Brian Carter and the Brian Carter Quartet.

Happy 2010!

Tim Compton

President

USI Cycling Club

2010 USI Sponsors

Bicycling Magazine Macklowe Gallery

brio nyc restaurant Pelham Bicycle Center

Juice Plus+ Westchester Homemade Wine Center

2010 USI Points Championship

USI had 21 members submit points in the tourney this year. The totals are dominated by the women of USI. Past multiple champion Dale Malkames finished third this year with Nancy Ford racing to fine second place with great results all season. Nancy was outpaced in a close finish by the USI club historian, Maria Settani who led a regular series of rides and is recognized for her particular service to the club. Congratulations Maria!

On the multi-sport side the club was extremely well represented by Darcy Ramsey

who finished fourth overall in the championship.

The USI points championship is demonstrates our members commitment to promoting the USI, its sponsors, and cycling as a healthy community lifestyle choice. A total of 704 points were awarded throughout the season via volunteering, racing and leadership efforts. Thank you to everyone who went out to represent the club in 2009 whether you chose to submit your points or not. Best of luck to everyone in 2010!

Welcome to the 102nd year of the Unione Sportiva Italiana road show!

Tim Compton

President

USI Cycling Club

2010 USI Sponsors

Bicycling Magazine Macklowe Gallery

brio nyc restaurant Pelham Bicycle Center

Juice Plus+ Westchester Homemade Wine Center

2010 USI Points Championship

On the multi-sport side the club was extremely well represented by Darcy Ramsey who finished fourth overall in the championship.

A brief history of USI Sponsorship

The USI is honoring its sponsors that have been supporting the Unione for five years or more at our annual banquet on January 31^st, 2010. These sponsors are Bicycling Magazine, Juice Plus, Macklowe Gallery, Pelham Bicycle Center and The Bagel Zone. This brief history of sponsorship of the USI is intended to provide some background on how the club sponsorship has evolved. I will take the story from general beginnings to the club’s current sponsorship situation. Part 2 will highlight the sponsors that will be honored at our banquet.

When we cyclists think of sponsors we usually have an image of a pro team in their billboard-like jerseys representing companies that most of us in America have never heard of, but there are other types of sponsors that should come to mind for those of us in the USI. The USI has always had sponsors. Each and every member is a sponsor, and the club has always tried its best to serve its sponsors well. In the nonprofit world the care and feeding of sponsors is called stewardship. On the for-profit side it is called customer relations. I mention this difference because the Unione Sportiva Italiana Cycling Club is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.

During the first 50 years and more of the club’s history the USI enjoyed sponsors support, many of whom were themselves members. An important source of support was La Sportiva Italian Benevolent Society, known familiarly as The Mutual. The USI club headquarters which were on 45th Street in Manhattan from the early twenties through the late thirties housed the USI offices as well as a gymnasium, restaurant and banquet hall.

The banquet space saw events honoring great sportsmen like the champions who came from all over the world for the Six Day Bicycle Races at Madison Square Garden. Through The Mutual and the in-house restaurant, USI sponsored Italian immigrants entering America. It provided them with the work which had become required for entry into the United States.

During these times and up through the sixties sponsors helped defray the cost of events by purchasing advertising in the annual banquet booklets just the like yearbook and playbill advertisements that many of us have sold, purchased and are familiar with. Companies like the famous jewelry and design store Michael C. Fina founded in 1935 by Michael and his wife Rose, bought advertising to say thank you to the USI for the club’s patronage for awards and trophy creation. Other sponsor-patrons included individuals like Tino DeAngelis who

supported cycling in New York and was a great character. Tino caused a quite a storm in the early 1960’s in the financial market with the Salad Oil Scandal. As Norman Miller noted in his 1964 Saturday Evening Post story, Tino’s, “avocation is donating bicycles and sponsoring races for boys’ bike clubs.” For the USI Tino provided junior sized racing bikes for young club racers as well as trophies and awards. (To read more about Tino visit Wikipedia’s citation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tino_De_Angelis and the story by Norman C. Miller in the Saturday Evening Post, from April 24, 1964 : http://www.mafianj.com/saladoil/tino1.shtml)

Donations of merchandise today are referred to as gifts in kind to differentiate them from the commercial monetary sponsorship that professional cycling and automobile racing began to see during the 1960’s. Jumping ahead to more recent days we find sponsorship part of the club discussions in 1993 when the USI had begun to attract a new generation of riders and faced financial challenges. The minutes from the January 28,1993 USI meeting included the officer election results and the note that, “Clothing orders will be dealt with later in the season as sponsors are organized.” In 1993 The USI’s sponsoring bike shop, Metro Cycle Sport, based in white Plains, offered discounts to members and special incentives to those racing for the club. The intention was to generate exposure for the shop while making the club attractive to racers in the area. The USI had a very limited budget, but a good portion of its funds were dedicated to helping members pay for their racing activities on behalf of the USI. In addition to Metro the club had other sponsors who were generous in their support, but the club was in need of some operating adjustments to keep moving forward, if not survive.

By the close of the following season in 1994, the USI was at a crossroads in its evolution. Metro Cycle Sport had closed in 1993. Metro’s owner, Dave Marinelli, who had done a great deal of work to revitalize the USI as a racing club had joined the staff at another local shop, Bicycle Express, and brought the club there with him. When Dave Marinelli left Bicycle Express the following season, the owners were not so certain that their shop should, or could, continue as the club sponsor in the future. The USI had already formed a committee to seek additional sponsorship for the 1995 season and soon a change of shop homes and new outside sponsors would help stabilize the base of the club.

The banner headline for the February 1995 USI Newsletter read, “THREE LOCAL SPONSORS ALIGN WITH U.S.I.” The bolded capital letters pretty much tell the tale. Club Secretary and newsletter editor, Karen Bauer, started her article with a statement demonstrating just how much the changes meant to the USI:

Food, a roof over your head, and bicycles. Is there anything more to life? Not for a cyclist. Therefore it seems fitting that the new U.S.I. sponsors include: Nick Wolff, Century 21-Wolff with offices in White Plains and Thornwood; Nick Livanos of city Limits Diner, White Plains and Ed Cangialosi and Harlan Matusow of High Caliper Bicycle Company, White Plains.

The new sponsorship enabled the USI to develop steadily in the ensuing years and permitted the old club to adjust to the new environment of USACycling. Although the USI had been a backbone club in the development of amateur cycling in America right up through the 1960’s legislative changes on a national level created the amateur cycling organizational structure that we have today, and clubs like the USI were left with the choice adapting or ending their existence.

Since 1995 the USI has had several sponsors and most have stayed with the club for more than one season. Many have been active members and many have been local businesses that share the USI members passion for cycling. A fairly complete list of our sponsors in the last 15 years includes Stationview Deli, Akido of the River Towns, Wilson & Son Jewelers, Between the Lines Bistro, Moda Spiga, Adjust Your Life Chiropractic, RepartoCorse.com, WD-NY, Merril Lynch, Invest Corp Real Estate, MyBodyMechanics.com, Century 21-Wolf Real Estate, White Plains Glass, City Limits Diner, Push Hard Multi-Sport, Bistro 235, Shanti Bith Bonsai, and David Kliger DDS. Our sponsors for 2010 are Bicycling Magazine, brio_nyc, Juice Plus, Macklowe Gallery, Westchester Homemade Wine Center, and Zaro’s Bakery. We are proud to represent our sponsors and thank all of our members for their sponsorship and especially their good friendship!

January 19, 2010, 10:28 am The Bittersweet History of Bike Clubs By J. DAVID...

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:21:01 -0500

January 19, 2010, 10:28 am

The Bittersweet History of Bike Clubs

By J. DAVID GOODMAN

Unione Sportiva Italiana Members of an Italian cycling club outside its storefront headquarters on Eighth Avenue in 1915. The motorcycles were most likely used for pacing.

Neither snow, nor sleet, nor bone-chilling cold can keep the members of New York’s assorted recreational bicycle clubs from the swift — or, often, leisurely — completion of their appointed rides around and out of the city. The New York Cycle Club, the Five Borough Bicycle Club and Fast and Fab, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender bike club, are some of those that lead outings and other events year round. And while none of these was around at the turn of the last century, each traces its lineage back to the ubiquitous clubs that dominated the earliest years of cycling.

In the 1880s and 1890s, growing middle-class participation in cycling lead to the formation of hundreds of clubs across the United States. The first to form was the Boston Bicycle Club, created on Feb. 11, 1878. The following February saw a club formed in Buffalo, and the first New York City club came in 1880, also in February (something about the cold seemed to drive riders to associate in those days, perhaps for the warmth of the pack).

As the numbers grew, clubs began to develop along ethnic, racial and class lines. This was particularly true in New York and other urban centers, where recent immigrants divided into Italian, German, Belgian and Irish clubs. There was a Harlem Cycling Club, one for Mongolians and even a Norseman’s club, “which I saw somewhere advertised as ‘limited to the sons and daughters of Harold the Fairhaired,’” said Evan Friss, a doctoral candidate in history at the City University of New York, whose dissertation is focused on this period in the history of cycling.

“I’ve seen references to Chinese, Japanese, Polish — almost every ethnic group,” Mr. Friss said.

Of New York’s early ethnic cycling clubs, one of the few remaining today is the Unione Sportiva Italiana. Founded in 1908, U.S.I. became an important booster for amateur bicycle racing in the city and around the country. Though its storefront clubhouse at 37th Street and Eighth Avenue is long gone, the club organizes rides from its current headquarters in Scarsdale, including the famous Gimbels Ride, a 50-mile ride beginning at the Yonkers Macy’s (formerly a Gimbels department store) that attracts scores of highly competitive amateur and professional riders in the summer.

While many of today’s clubs offer activities besides riding — Fast and Fab holds monthly dinners — the clubs of a century ago provided an important social space throughout the year, as this 1895 article from The Times describes:

The Cycle Club of Brooklyn has already gone into history because of its prosperity and increasing growth during the Winter, its prettiest and most charming of all Brooklyn’s pretty and charming young women; the best of her young men; the most esteemed heads of families and attractive matrons; because of its costume rides, and its sociable teas, champion polo and football team, and because of its nice little merry-go-round organ, to the music of whose tuneful airs its members swing gaily around the ring morning, noon, and night.

If some clubs served as a marker social class, others proved to be vehicles for assimilation, said Mr. Friss, offering “an opportunity to participate in what was an American phenomenon. They were wheelmen first, cycling like everybody else.”

For example, U.S.I. sponsored Italian immigrants arriving in America, providing them with “the work which had become required for entry into the United States,” according to Ed Cangialosi, one of the club’s current officers.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the ethnic divisions that characterized early cycling also had a uglier side. Depictions of cyclists often included cruel caricatures of riders, especially of Chinese and black riders, and much was written at the time about the physical differences of the races.

In 1894, the League of American Wheelmen, the largest national grouping of riders, bowed to pressure from its Southern members — who feared that allowing black members would hamper the league’s development in the South — and restricted its membership to whites. The move effectively barred blacks from most bicycle races in the United States.

As Lorenz J. Finison, corresponding secretary of the Massachusetts African-American Heritage Bike Route, writes in his recent study of an unsuccessful challenge to the league’s color bar in 1895, the increasing social importance of bicycle clubs “provides an importation context for understanding the development of ‘colored’ bicycle clubs in the 1890s, and the move to exclude colored people from membership in the League.” The bicycle was often described as a democratic machine in those days, but obviously, for many, it proved to be only an extension of the existing social order.

Despite protests from many, the league remained whites-only until it dissolved in the first years of the 1900s. (In 1999, its successor, the League of American Bicyclists, apologized for the ban.)

“I think the league bar had as much to do with the social aspect as anything else,” Mr. Finison said. “I think if it had been purely a racing organization, this would never have happened.”

Follow Spokes on twitter, twitter.com/spokesnyt, where links to the column will appear along with other bike-related tweets.

Happy Holidays to all Amici di Bici!

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:55:48 -0500

Ho Ho Ho! Happy Holidays to everyone!

As you know…The 2010 annual USI Banquet will be held on January 31^st, 2010 at Vintage Bar in White Plains…and it is an incredible deal…That just got even sweeter.

Our favorite percussin’ member Brian Carter is bringing his joyful Quartet noise to the party! Brian wil be taking pre-party requests so if you want to hear “SuperFreak”, “I Got you Under My Skin, “I Can ride My Bike with No Handlebars” or other holiday favorites send them to Brian at bmc1@sprynet.com or check the out the Brian Carter Quartet online for musical notes of interest.

Vintage Bar is on Main St downtown across from the Galleria Mall with convenient parking. The price will be really reasonable at $40 per person including dinner, entertainment, and an open bar serving soft drinks, beer and wine. Club members will receive a discounted price of $30 per person. It will be a fun party so please get your RSVP off to Angelina at pedalpusher.usi@verizon.net along with your check to the USI Cycling club, PO Box 522, Scarsdale, NY 10583. We need to have a solid count of attendees for Vintage by January 15.

USI 2010 SEASON TEAM MEETING

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:48:14 -0500

First USI Team Meeting for the 2010 Season

The first team meeting for the 2010 season was held on Tuesday December 15th @ the Pelham Bicycle Center. Thanks to Pedro and John for allowing us to have the meeting after business hours on that evening.

We had a great turnout with 12 individuals showing interest in the program for next year! Included were; Tim Compton, Dennis Burns, Mark Wasserman, Brian Carter, Kris Fleming, Richard Green, John Koenck, Stephen Paige, Mike Carrion, Akin Dorsett, Leo Sanchez, Andrew Gillis and myself. Additional committments have come from Massimo Sconditi, Dave Millhauser, Lyle Barron and Jay Campbell. Looking at the roster, we are almost split between Cat 4’s and 5’s.

The main agenda was simply to introduce ourselves to each other. Most of the team has ridden on the Gimbel’s so there were familiar faces. We met 2 or 3 new faces in the group which was great to see! We also discussed training rides as a group and our first targeted race that will be the Bethel Series.

All in all a great start to the program. We have alot to work on but it will be fun. Hopefully we will work as one unit and deliver some good results!

As always, enjoy the ride and stay safe,

Jorge

The USI 2010 Banquet - January 31st

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:29:00 -0500

The 2010 annual USI Banquet will be held on January 31^st, 2010 at Vintage Bar in White Plains…and it is an incredible deal!

Vintage Bar is on Main St downtown across from the Galleria Mall with convenient parking. The price will be really reasonable at $40 per person including dinner, entertainment, and an open bar serving soft drinks, beer and wine. Club members will receive a discounted price of $30 per person. It will be a fun party so please get your RSVP off to Angelina at pedalpusher.usi@verizon.net along with your check to the USI Cycling club, PO Box 522, Scarsdale, NY 10583. We need to have a solid count of attendees for Vintage by January 15.

The USI will be honoring the sponsors that have been with us for five or more years so please come out to see your friends and to show your support!

For Otto password: otto

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:16:00 -0500

For Otto

password: otto

USI Turkey Ride 2009

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:38:55 -0500

USI Turkey Ride 2009

Thanksgiving Weekend Rides: 2009

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:39:38 -0500

If you see this member on the ride don’t get your feathers all in a ruffle! It’s the 2009 Thanksgiving Day Gimbels ride.

There are special rules to follow on Thanksgiving Day:

1. Everyone does the same (regular/short) route and stays together at a relaxed pace.

2. There is no sprinting!

3. Pedaling is optional for Otto - the rest of you can get your workout pushing.

The rest of the weekend, including Friday, the ride runs at regular pace.

Be safe on the road and enjoy your holiday whether you can make the ride Thanksgiving Day or not!

USI Logos

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:52:37 -0500

Our logo’s style has evolved over time and will keep on evolving for a fresh look, but the shape and content will always remain…These logos are from 2007.

The version below is from about 10 years earlier.

The patch below is a favorite and estimated to be from the 1950’s.

The pin below dates from the pre-WWII era and is a cherished memento. The club did a new run of pins in 2008 modeled on this design as part of our centennial celebration.

2010 USI Officers Elected

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:20:59 -0400

At the USI club meeting on October 13th the members elected Tim Compton to serve as President, Jorge Ferrer for Vice President for the 2010 season. Dale “Angelina” Malkames was returned as Secretary and Rick Malkames as Treasurer.

Initiatives in 2010 will include Jorge working to bring together USI racers, Masters and otherwise. Hey the spring series is only 20 weeks away…

USI Race Director, Mark Lalloo, will be working on developing a home USI race. Possible venues include FDR Park in Yorktown Heights and Orchard Beach in the Bronx. The idea of a cyclo-cross race at one of Westchester County’s designated parks open to cycling, Sprain Brook, Blue Mountain Preserve, or Graham Hills is also under discussion.

No, this is not Pres Tim and that ain’t Angelina the Secretary, but there are great pictures of Tim and many of the USI just a click away in the Photo page of this site.

The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for November 2.

Hope to see everyone on the Halloween Gimbels Parade! Bring your costume!

Not Pres Tim…

Not Angelina…

In Memorium: Pietro D'Alliessi; USI Club Champion 1954 & 1956

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:56:13 -0400

USI recently lost one of its old racers, . The following text was forwarded from a mutual friend of the Unione, Edward Albert.

“Today good friend was buried. His name was Peter (Pietro) D’Alliessi. Some
of you old timers may have known him. In the 1950’s (before my time) he
raced for the prominent New York, club the Unione Sportiva Italiana. In
1954 & 1956 he was club champion. In 1957 he turned pro and rode his first
six-day. His partner and guide was our own Ted Ernst. I believe this was
in Cleveland.

He was T-boned by an SUV and spent the next 6 weeks in intensive
care. After an operation last Friday he died from his injuries. He was 78, hit on his
birthday riding his 50’s Balilla with no brakes but incredible skill. He
could stop on a dime and would still dismount by pushing the bike forward
and jumping off the back. 78! They said that he survived at all was due to
the shape he was in.”

Ted Ernst related the following: “Here is a photo of Pietro D’Alliessi,(16),
and Ted Ernst,(15) just after the spring 1957 Cleveland 6-Day. The fellow between us is two two time Olympian Tom
O’rourke who we both raced against often. Tom was one of our
soigneurs. The fellow on the right is a friend who came from
NY to watch and enjoyed being at our booth and helping out. Can’t remember his name. We got 7th place and were best US team, the euros relegated us. A couple of the Americans were teamed with a
european and placed ahead of us. The blue train rode very hard and made sure we went to school before we got the chance to challenge. Shall we call it inter-teamwork. Pete was a real hard rider and gentleman. I remember him with great fondness and respect. Maybe some of our list members saw the race.”

USI to Marshall Westchester Triathlon Bike Course

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:39:30 -0400

Incoming President Tim Compton is organizing the USI volunteer crew to marshall the bike route for the 25th edition of the Jarden Westchester Triathlon. The tri’s site has plenty of detail on the event.

USI needs 25 volunteers - several members who have contributed their time int he past have already signed on for this year. The afterparty is a blast and of course there will be several USI members competing in the event as individuals and team members.

Tim will be sending specific recruitment announcements, but to add your name to the rolls you can email tim at jtimrider@gmail.com. Your participation will help enrich the club both by earning the thanks of the tri and cycling community and financially since the organizers will compensate the club for our assistance. Tim can answer any questions you have about specific times (We will need to be in place around 7AM and be off duty around 10AM.) and locations available on the course.

Hope to see you out there!

2010 USI Officer Nominations Are Set

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:03:49 -0400

Officer nominations were accepted at the September USI meeting held at the Pelham Bicycle Center on Monday evening, September 14th.

Tim Compton’s nomination for President was put forward by Gloria Deucher and accepted by the members attending.

Jorge Ferrer’s nomination for Vice President was put forward by outgoing President, Ed Cangialosi and accepted by the members. (I like to thinnk that always was and will continue to be outgoing…)

The lame duck pres also formally nominated Dale Malkames to continue as club Secretary and Rick Malkames to continue as our Treasurer.

If anyone would be willing to step in for Rick he will be glad to yield the ledger…

Elections will be held at the next club meeting on Monday October 5th. The location for the meeting will announced a lilttle closer to the date, but the idea is for the treasurer to open the coffers a little so we can have a bit of a post election party.

USI Meeting - Monday, September 14, 2009

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:43:08 -0400

The next club meeting is being held at 7:30pm on Monday evening, September 14th at the Pelham Bicycle Center located at 109 Wolfs Lane, Pelham, NY 10803.

Most importantly the club will be accepting nominations for its 2010 officer positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. Volunteer postions will also be discussed and your attendance is valued.

Thanks!

Welcome to the new USI website

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:11:18 -0400

Welcome to the new USI site. It’s really the same as the old site, but with a couple of new wrinkles. The same stuff that was on the previous version of the site is here, but in an effort to make the USI site a better communication tool it will be possible for the officers as well as the webmaster, newsletter editor and points coordinator to post updates.

The change has been long in coming, but with a bit of practice on the part of our contributors the new site style should make for a nice way for the Unione to stay up right.

USI BBQ Sunday July 12 @ Saxon Woods Park

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:51:50 -0400

Greetings all! Please come out to the USI BBQ to celebrate with friends and plenty of USI cheer!

We’ll be gathering early afternoon after the ride.

Sheri will be shooting portraits for the 2010 Banquet Book so
look sharp!

BBQ Ticket Prices are $10/person for USI members and family,
$15/person fo non-members and $15/person at the park.

Checks for the BBQ should be made out to USI Cycling Club and
mailed to Tim at his address;

Tim Compton
4901 Henry Hudson Parkway
Apt 2H
Bronx, NY 10471

You can reach Tim on 917-648-4364 or jtimrider@gmail.com

Grazie!

of Compacts e di piu...

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:34:00 -0400

Some of us have bikes that heading into their golden years and as we retire them the tried and true gearing that has seen us up and over is now somewhat down and out…the triple chain ring on the road bike is becoming something of a rarity and is being eclipsed by the compact.

What exactly is a compact? Well on the road the compact was brought to prominence recently by the boys from Campagnolo. That’s right the firm founded by this guy:

Tullio not only gave us the quick release, but with all the crazies wanting go uphill as fast as possible in their Gran Fondo rides and races Signore Campagnolo’s descendents devised a two chain ring set up that uses a small 34 tooth inner chain ring and a 50 tooth outer chain ring. What is now called standard for chain rings used a 39 inner ring and a 53 outer ring. Go a bit further back and you’ll find standard was 42 and 53…so the standard was already shrinking before the compact made its debut…

A road triple usually has an inner (granny) ring of 30 teeth, a middle ring of 42 and an outer of 52. Granny is supposed to sound derisive, but my granny was a rather polite and tough nonna.

Ahem…so why replace your triple with a compact? Well for one thing there are less parts with a compact compared to a triple so it is a bit lighter, and even if you are not a weight weenie it’s always nice to not lug around extra stuff. I like to tell people that buying lighter parts is better…they never get heavier – if you lose a couple of grams on the Marshall Plan (Kate, that is) while training for the Golden Apple this September 9^th (Go Sign Up NOW!) you are very likely to put them right back on in the celebratory moments of century ride completion euphoria. And besides who could, would, or should resist a second helping of your favorite nonna’s pasta?

For another thing a compact is easier to shift. Your front derailleur has much less distance to travel and less opportunity to become confused about where it should be or what ring it should be derailing. The compact works especially well with a full ten speeds out back on your rear wheel. With 20 speeds that’s as many as you had on your 7 x 3 triple (almost) and the range of gears is just about the same so hills don’t have to be so awful either. Of course if you do want the absolute lowest gearing, then a triple is still the best option.

I ride a compact and like it very much for all of my riding, but there are some triples that I truly admire and always make me smile.

Image credits:

http://67.228.130.208/~mike/remastered/Fiat_Compact_Car.jpg

http://www.campagnolo.com/images/company01.png

http://thesituationist.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/3stooges.jpg

Racing Results - Congratulations Dale!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:33:28 -0400

3rd Annual Connecticut Coast Criterium
Presented by
Connecticut Coast Cycling
Bethel, CT
Sunday, June 07, 2009


Women
     Name                         Team                                   
                Number
1    Dale          Malkames       USI                                    
                306
2    Kimberly      Edwards        CVC/Subaru of New England            
303
3    Cheryl        Wolf           Bethel Cycle                           
                309
4    Maria         Murphy         Retro Velo                             
               310
5    Siri          Hildowen       Yale                                   
                     311
6    Joanne        Ross           Stage 1/Fusion THINK                   
         308
7    Rebecca       Hussey         Bethel Cycle Sport Club                
       305
8    Lyn           McCabe                                                
                     307
9    Karen         Franzen        CVC/Subaru of New England              
   304
10   Carmen        Carlton        CVC/Subaru of New England              
  301
11   Donna         Davis          CVC Subaru of New England              
     302

Jesse is selling his wheels

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:50:22 -0400

I am thinking about selling my Bontrager Aeolus 65 Tubulars. The wheels are amazingly fast but I want to get a powermeter and am looking to raise some bike money. Also, the way they are designed I cannot race them in cross otherwise I would keep them for that. I bought them from Sam for $900 (Retail for $2300). If anyone is interested I will sell them for $600 with skewers and wheel bags, and relatively new conti sprinter tubular tires. They have been raced on 4 times and trained on maybe another 4 times. Perfect condition, and I have the Shimano and Campy cassette body conversion hub (retails $175) I will throw in for free.