Rapha is running a "Tour de France" Happy Hour every night, and have reserved seats for us on Thurdsay, July 24th.

Please make sure to sign up, so we have a head count.

Personally, I don't mind when others do it to me (in fact, I take it as a compliment and am happy to oblige), but often enough I've read that people don't like to be drafted by strangers.  I can understand that.  And I can also understand it if people tooling around on a leisurely ride don't like it if some sport pulls over right in front of them.  But what I don't understand is why, nine times out of ten, when I offer my wheel to strangers who appear to be out for exercise or training, they drop like flies.  I may be creeping past them up a hill, I'll pull in front and give an encouraging gesture, but a moment later when I look back again, they haven't merely dropped back a bit, they are nowhere to be seen!

I have a fairly new set of Reynolds Assault rims on my road bike, installed with they Reynolds brake pads.  This past weekend, during the climbathon, there was a need for some significant braking (especially going down in to Piermont after descending Tweed toward 9W). I noticed that as the brakes started to get warm, they also became very LOUD. Once they cooled for a bit, they were quiet again.

Has anyone else experienced this? 

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/07/news/timeline-details-alberto-contadors-tour-ending-crash_336328?utm_campaign=newsletter_prologue&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2014-07-15&utm_source=iContact

Yay Hannah!   

Traffic Jam in Central Park

Been riding on Mavic Ksyrium SL for 5 years now and thinking about upgrading my wheelset

Most the guys I ride with have deep-dish wheelsets and they all swear the results are great on group rides.  The only problem is everyone has a different opinions on brands.

I see tons of options for example Reynolds, Mavic, Easton around $1200; Zipps over $2000  (404); Local guys selling their brand SP for a grand; and a few other brands

Obviously you get what you pay for, but the market seems very disjointed. 

Has anyone done research lately or have any pointers on how to approach choosing from all the different options.  Are there any good articles that are non-bias.

Thanks

http://diogenesclub.tumblr.com/post/56118198068/my-roommate-asked-me-why-i-watch-cycling-so-i-made-this

(warning: very Tumblr-like content)

Just found this while browsing around. Interesting to note the complete absence of disk brakes, (I thought there were some last year), electronic shifitng is not universal and the Campy groups are not all Super Record.

http://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/tour-features/road-bikes-2014-to...

 1 Campagnolo

1 Shimano

Contact me, if interested. 212-570-9726 by 7/21/14