The Practical Cyclist

My name is Jay Hardcastle, and I am the new Marketing Manager for Bicycle Garage Indy.  I am very excited to join the nationally recognized, award winning team of BGI.  More than just a bike shop, Bicycle Garage Indy, and BGI Fitness have been part of the greater Indianapolis cycling and business community for over 27 years, a remarkable achievement.  I encourage you to take a few minutes and read the BGI mission statement and history, it is a great story, and one that I am now proud to be a part of.

Bicycles and cycling have been a part of life my since my early teens in southern Michigan. Much to the consternation of my auto-centric family, I was on my third bike and first tandem before I owned a car. I had ridden my first century and first multi-day tour by the time I was 17.  Four years later I met my wife, Linda, on a club ride.  In our first 10 years together, we toured over 6,000 miles  by tandem in 13 states and Canada.   Our son's Tyler and Justin almost grew up on bikes, each moving from trailer, to tandem, and now their own bikes on day rides and tours on the west coast and across the midwest.  



Along the way I have ridden single track in the Cascades, I-5 in Southern California, and every type of road surface in between. I worked my way through Purdue in bicycle shops, and have given back to the sport as a bike club volunteer when ever time allowed.  Linda and I are currently coordinators for Indiana's tandem club, the Hoosiers Out On Tandems, or HOOTS.

Yet with all that, my story is not unique on the BGI team.  There are lots of stories like mine, and the fun part of my job will be getting to share those stories to your benefit.   THE BGI staff has decades of experience in helping customers, and tens of thousands of riding miles.  Relating that practical experience to you is all part of BGI's "E3" mission, to Educate, Excite and Expand.    

Welcome to The Practical Cyclist.  Enjoy the ride, and keep it safe!

Jay Hardcastle
Marketing Manager
jhardcastle@bgindy.com
www.twitter.com/BicycleGarage

 

Passing along an update on local trail conditions from Mark Finney, an avid off-road rider and BGI employee.
Please, if you see people with MTBs and/or gear, do your best to dissuade them from riding the trails for the next few weeks.  

Our latest online coupon lets you take 15% off the lowest price of any CamelBak hydration product. It's your pick: a hydration pack, like the Lobo, the new flow meter, .75L Better Bottle or a Podium bottle.  (Limit 1 per customer, in-stock items only offer good through 3/15/2010.)


CamelBak is one of the hundreds brands of Bike Accessories Indianapolis, in-stock now at Bicycle Garage Indy North, Indianapolis, and Bicycle Garage Indy South in Greenwood.

Sometimes a product comes along that is very difficult to describe, or explain in words how to use or why you need it.  When I first saw the XDK Slug, A Hydration Pack Tool I knew I had to have one.  

Now I am a rarity, a road rider who uses a CamelBak. I know a CamelBak on road bike just yells FRED, but hear me out. I was first introduced to them while riding in Washington State.  Off-road riders are constantly in mud, so CamelBaks were used for both for hands-free drinking, and reasonable clean access to water.  A lot of the off-road riders would train on the road, so they kept the CamelBak habit.  I am on a tandem a lot, so hands free is nice for that.  Finally, our kids were tandeming with at a very early age, and a strapped on pack let them drink without playing the "drop-the-water-bottle" game.  So our work-out storage includes hooks for four hydration packs and extra's.

Now the Omegaport lid is a great improvement over the original CamelBak.  You can easily add ice (especially nice at quick shop ice machines!), and clean and dry the bladder.  But for some, it can be very difficult to open.  In our household, I am the official CamelBak "opener". (Along with bike mechanic, roof rack bike loader, tire inflation specialist, etc.) With the Slug, which inspired the video below, I have 1 less official job at home.  Now if someone will just invent a PowerBar opener. . . .



CamelBak and XDK are just two of the hundreds of brands of Bike Accessories Indianapolis, in-stock now at Bicycle Garage Indy North, in Indianapolis, and Bicycle Garage Indy South in Greenwood.

I am completely at home taking care of the different types of bicycle brakes I have used over the years; side pulls, center pulls, cantilevers and linear-pull/V-brakes.   I have had them on the bikes I have owned, assembled and maintained.  But disc brakes are a completely new animal for me.  I don’t own a disc-equipped bike (yet, of course!), and they only came into wide-spread use after my days as a full-time mechanic.  However, I had a unique opportunity to learn more about Hydraulic Disc brakes when Josh Prater, one of the service leads for Bicycle Garage Indy, scheduled a training session for BGI’s Service Department to share what he learned at a recent Park Tool Tech Summit, I jumped at the chance, and it turned out to be a very interesting couple of hours!

Did you know that along with our web site and our blogs,  you can find information for Bicycle Garage Indy (North - Indianapolis and South - Greenwood) on all the following sites:

Facebook - www.bgindy.com/for/facebook
Twitter - www.twitter.com/bicyclegarage
YouTube - www.bgindy.com/for/youtube 
Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/bicyclegarageindy/

With the cycling season fast approaching, you may want to follow anyone of these for all sorts of interesting information on the latest products, store events, and more.  And for all of online followers, we offer special offers like this for discount offer for bike helmet Indianapolis, good through March 1, 2010.

Thursday, February 18,  our Lady's Night at Bicycle Garage Indy - North was a hugh success. Over 60 women attended our first fashion show, which included women's cycling wear from Cannondale,  Sugoi and Apres Velo.  

I now have 77 days to get ready for one my annual riding traditions and favorite rides, the Tour of the Sciota River Valley.  Starting in Columbus, OH, TOSRV is a two day, 210 mile ride that has run on every Mother's Day weekend since 1961.  My history is a little shorter, only having ridden my first "TOZ" in 1979. Ever since I saw the picture 6,000 riders on the steps of the Ohio Capitol building in an early `70s Sports Illustrated, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of.  

2010 will be my 11th return for this spring classic.  TOSRV is a unique challenge, due to both the early date and distance, and the amazing permutations of Midwest spring weather.  I have experienced temperatures from the low 40's to high 80's, headwinds, tailwinds, sunny days, rainy days and even a flash flood.  Yet each return has been a reward of reunion with old friends, fellowship with thousands of riders, and the unique beauty (really) of Midwest riding.

Having an early season goal and an annual tradition ride are two ways to keep bicycling fresh and interesting year after year.  Do you have a riding tradition? And if not this year, 2011, the 50th TOSRV, is going to quite a show!

 (Part 4 of a series on the Trek Off-Road Tech Update for BGI Staff  from Ken Derrico of Trek Bicycle.)

Traditional suspension systems will mount one end of the shock on in a fixed position on the frame.  With Full Floater, Jose Gonzalez, Trek Bicycle's Director of Suspension Technology,  connects the two ends of the shock to live members of the suspension; the EVO link at the top, and the extension of the chainstay at the bottom.  First introduced in 2008, the Full Floater now takes full advantage of the DVRC short, and Active Braking Pivot for a very efficient, compliant suspension system. (Follow this link to YouTube for Jose's detailed explanation of Full Floater.)

The Full Floater is found on all Trek Full suspension bikes, including the Remedy and Fuel series of high performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

That covers the four key elements of Trek's full suspension systems.  Watch for future posts on other aspects Trek's off-road bike technology.

 (Part 3 of a series on the Trek Off-Road Tech Update for BGI Staff from Ken Derrico of Trek Bicycle.)

The rocker link is essential in connecting rear suspension members to the frame.  Most are bolted together plates.  To tie all the elements of it's rear suspension together, Trek relies on the one piece EVO Roller link casting.  One piece design dramatically improves stiffness and reliability in Trek's hi performance off-road bike.  The EVO also incorporates pressed in sealed bearing, rather than bushing, for increased durability.  (You can see more EVO details on YouTube from Trek's Jose Gonzalez.)

The EVO Link is found on all Trek Full suspension bikes, including the Remedy and Fuel series of high performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

We will cover Full Floater shock mount next in Part 4.

(Part 2 of a series on the Trek Off-Road Tech Update for BGI Staff  from Ken Derrico of Trek Bicycle.)

The Active Braking Pivot (ABP) is Trek solution to the loss of suspension during braking, especially during technical, demanding descents.  ABP places the rear-suspension pivot in-line with the the rear axle.  This placement allows the suspension to stay active during braking, for greater control and braking confidence.

As developed by Trek suspension specialist Jose Gonzales, (you can hear more from Jose in this YouTube clip), any rear wheel can be used, with only a special QR Skewer. The pivots are actual sealed bearings, rather than bushings, for increased durability.

The Active Braking Pivot is found on all Trek Full suspension bikes, including the Remedy and Fuel series of high performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

Next up, we will cover the EVO Link.

This week, Sales and Service staff at both BGI North and South had the chance to participate in a Trek Off-Road Tech Update with Ken Derrico of Trek Bicycle.  We have put a few of the pictures up on our Bicycle Garage Indy Flikr site.  In this and several posts to follow, we will highlight some of these new offerings, in development since 2006, when Trek began, with considerable investment, research efforts to completely retool it's off-road bikes. These efforts are now bearing fruit in industry and rider recognition.

Along with it's carbon frame building technology (Lance and Madone, need we say more!), Trek is highlighting four Suspension technologies; Fox Dual Rate Control Valve (DRCV), Active Braking Pivot (ABP), Full Floater Shock Mount, and EVO 1-piece rocker links.   We will talk first about the DRCV shock first, and cover the rest future posts.

Built by Fox and engineered by Trek, DRCV allows for both small bump compliance and "big-hit" control in an air spring. The first stage functions as a standard Fox Float air shock.  Halfway through its travel, the plunger opens a valve to the upper canister, providing "big-hit" performance, without the loss of pedaling efficiency of a long travel shock.

The DRVC Shock is found on the Remedy and Fuel series of high performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

We will cover the Active Braking Pivot in our next post.

We have our first Shimano Dura Ace Di2 Treks Bike Indianapolis!  We have a Trek Project 1 Madone with a complete Dura Ace Di2 drive train assembled and on display.  Better yet, we have have it on CycleOps Jet Fluid Trainer, so you can try it yourself at BGI - North.

 Shimano's SEIS (Shimano Electronic Intelligent Shifting) is a remarkable riding experiencing. On of the most fascinating features is the self-triming front derailleur, with it's two-step shifting between rings.  The the Di2's lithium battery pack mounts in-line with and below a water bottle cage, and  is designed for 1,000 miles of riding between charges.  You can find a complete set of pictures on Flickr, and video at BicycleGarageIndy on YouTube.

This Project One Trek Madone is just one of the performance Trek Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

With warmer weather fast approaching, now is good time to start spring bike maintenance, Indianapolis.  And while you might wait until roads have been cleaned up a little from winter debris before mounting them, new tires are a good place to start.  And to help you do that, for a limited time, Bicycle Garage Indy is offering 50% off the second tire when you buy one at full price.  Even better, you can do this twice!, Buy 2 Tires at full price, and buy 2 more at 50%. One coupon per customer, good at Bicycle Garage Indy North and Bicycle Garage Indy South in Greenwood.

Bob Walters, a customer of Bicycle Garage Indy - North, has a great blog post about a new Cannondale Touring 1 bicycle being assembled and customized for his missionary work in Africa.  Looks like a very interesting story worth following.

The Touring 1 is just one of many high performance Cannondale Bikes Indianapolis, available at both Bicycle Garage Indy-North and Bicycle Garage Indy-South in Greenwood.

Bicycle Garage Indy has been awarded the prestigious 2009 Angie’s List Super Service Award! The Super Service Award, now celebrating its 11th year, is reserved for companies who have achieved and maintained a superior service rating on Angie's List – the nation’s leading provider of consumer ratings on local service companies – throughout the past year. The entire BGI staff would like to thank our customers and Angie's List Members who made this years award (our seventh!) possible. It all part of BGI providing the best bike maintenance Indianapolis has to offer!

We've realigned our fitting packages to give you better choices. With our new "Intro Fit" package, we use current industry standards to set saddle height, saddle fore/aft, stem length, etc. While not as thorough as our "Body Fit" & "Custom Fitting", the Intro Fit addresses the basics in just one hour. 

 Our latest email newsletter is always available at www.bgindy.com/for/newsletter.  Visit the BGI web site, or click the links at left to be added our email list.

Over 25 people attended Phil Campbell's Sprint 8 session over separate evenings at BGI South and North.  Included in each 1 hour presentation was a 20 minute, Sprint 8 workout, which is programmed into many models of Vision Fitness Treadmills, Vision Fitness Recumbent Cycles and Vision Fitness Ellipticals.  Vision Fitness equipment is one of the many lines carried by BGI Fitness and Bicycle Garage Indy at our Indianapolis and Greenwood locations.  Each attendee received a copy of Phil's fitness and training guide, "Ready, Set, Go!"

Our latest ad from the Indy Star for our 2010 Resolution Fitness Sale.