Slippery subject - slippery salesman?

 FRICTION FICTION

Regular blog readers have seen posts about chain lubes and questions about waxing rather than simply oiling your chain. Zio's firmly in the oil camp and sees no reason to buy-into the claims of the wax-cult.

But someone who REALLY wants you to join the cult is the guy who runs what Zio laughingly calls "Friction Fiction"

Before you take the plunge you might want to read THIS. This huckster is a former cop with zero engineering, mechanical or bike industry background it seems?

Photo above is of Zio's "secret blend" chain lube. Nothing more than an under $20 jug of synthetic automotive gear oil. Thick enough to stay on but thin enough to get inside the chain rollers. He's used it off and on for years but is only now trying a test of how fast a chain wears while using this exclusively. 

Some oil gets dripped-on when the chain appears dry with a wipe-off after backpedaling a few times. When the bike gets washed a bit of diesel fuel is brushed on the chain and rest of the drivetrain, then washed-off with the same dish soap used for the rest of the bike. The oil left behind is usually good for a few rides before more oil needs to be applied.

So far, 2000 kilometers on a new chain with ZERO measurable wear. Note that unlike Friction's test this chain was NOT chemically or ultrasonically cleaned, the lube was just dripped on over the lubricant (grease) that was on the chain when it came out of the package. Since there's no issue mixing oil and grease (unlike oil and wax) why anyone using oil would spend time and money REMOVING the grease makes no sense to Zio.

KMC recommends replacement at .08 mm of wear but Zio will replace it before .04 just to make sure the cogs and chainrings don't get worn. Another bike we have here has 4000+ kilometers on its chain with just .02 mm of wear, so a simple oiling regimen (this time with various lubes including FinishLine green and Mobil1) seems just fine as chains are cheap, disposable wear items like tires, so why spend all the money and time pulling 'em off, cleaning 'em in ultrasonic gizmos and then boiling 'em in wax?

Hot, hot, hot!

 How Hot is Too Hot?

It was hot (almost too hot) in Piedmont back in July

How hot is too hot? Zio Lorenzo's using the "Over 65 years of age + over 32 C temperature = stay inside where it's cool." equation to keep him off his sporty bikes these days. He'll go out on the shopping bike in the morning but that's it for exercise, other than going up and down the stairs inside the house.

But what about racing? The UCI recently adopted some weather protocols calling anything above 28 C:

Red Zone – Above 28°C – High risk – Modification of start and finish times, possible neutralisation of a section or cancellation of the stage/race.

Yet the Vuelta's been running for a week in Portugal and southern Spain in temperatures around 40 C. WTF? Some changes HAVE been made, but they seem more like what's called-for here:

Orange Zone – Between 23°C and 27.9°C – Moderate high risk – Keep start area in the shade, protect officials, increase number of neutral motorbikes providing riders with drinks and ice packs, adapt the rules that limit hydration and cooling in during competition. 

Zio's no weather expert but a chart he consulted shows 40 C to be "extreme danger" for prolonged exposure or strenuous activity unless the humidity is under 50%. That "dry heat" they like to talk about I guess?

IS the humidity in southern Spain under 50%? Riders have commented on the extreme heat pretty much every day, yet the protocols observed seem to be just those for "Orange Zone" with temps maxing out at 28 C rather than something for the 40's reported. Is "wet bulb" temperature as noted in the UCI protocols all that different?

Where's the infamous riders union guy - the one who made so much noise about cold and rain earlier this year? Zio notes that one can always put on MORE clothes when it's cold vs the heat in Spain where the racers garb is almost transparent. What does he have to say about these extreme temps that seem to exceed what is allowed? He made a big stink about hookless wheel rims not too long ago but wrote this about racing in 40 C temps...

"It's borderline, but it's OK"

Zio can only scratch his bald head and wonder WTF? This fellow showed no fear of castigating the Giro d'Italia and it's organizer RCS over cold and wet conditions, saying this as recently as May:

“We need to make the Extreme Weather Protocol a bit more specific, It's too general,” he suggested. “There were two points this time: freezing rain and extreme temperatures, which was today. So we could have invoked the protocol, without all the debate and discussions.”

But "It's borderline, but it's OK" when it comes to 104 F in the sun? That's not an extreme temperature?

Could this have anything to do with this race being owned by the mighty ASO, who also owns LeTour, Paris-Roubaix, etc. vs RCS, owner of Il Giro? If the Giro encounters temps like these in the future (and it won't be the first time, I remember Stephen Roche complaining about heat in Sicily during La Corsa Rosa decades ago) will he say:

"It's borderline, but it's OK*"?

Zio wouldn't bet on it!

Update: Discussions are popping-up online about 

WTF the Vuelta is in August in the first place if it's too hot? You have to go back to the mid-1990's when that corrupt candy executive was the UCI boss. Back then the screwball idea was put to the Giro d'Italia organizer to move La Corsa Rosa to August and let La Vuelta have the May/June spot on the calendar.

RCS wisely said NFW so the Vuelta was forced (and later taken over entirely by ASO, owners of LeTour since it turned out to be such a dumb move) into this spot on the calendar from it's previous spring (before Il Giro) dates. Just another bad idea from the same guy who helped BigTex conceal his doping -  but are we stuck with it forever?

*Hansen claimed to have surveyed the riders at La Vuelta with few expressing any reservations (we'll ignore Antonio Tiberi dropping out because of the heat I guess?) but back in 2018 at the Tour Down Under, with racing going on despite 40+C temps he said this: "I had mixed reactions from riders about the heat. Yes, there were many riders who wanted to stop the race. But there were also other riders who wanted to race." He also went on to tell his detractors: "Get your facts right, not everyone shares your opinion!"

Zio would suggest perhaps he take his own advice?

Radio-controlled Racing?

 Radio-controlled Racing?

Nah, we're not talking about radio-controlled toy racing cars or airplanes, we're talking about radio-controlled pro cyclists. Equipped with radios similar to the photo.

Why? Because of the recent almost melt-downs by two of the biggest team bosses in the sport. Here's the first:

This year's Tour de Pologne is marked by UCI's test of racing without radios. For every supporter of the less controlled racing, there is a hater pointing out disadvantages. Today, there has been another incident fueling Richard Plugge's narrative against radio ban."It was chaos today, without radios. UCI cannot continue with this radio ban. It turns the race into a complete farce like we saw in the olympics where riders cannot call the car for basic assistance (in case of a mechanical)," Plugge complains on X."Today we saw Cofidis' Nicolas Debeaumarché crash hard on a descent in latter parts of the stage. The French rider clearly wasn't in a very good shape, however it has taken a substantial amount of time before he was treated. Hopefully no one was too badly hurt today," Plugge added.

Here's the second:

"I would like to conclude my column with my opinion on the discussion about earphones (race radios) in Poland. As is well known: the cycling association (UCI) is conducting an experiment there: only two riders per team are allowed to be in radio contact with the support car. If I am well informed, there were not even any earphones left in the past few stages.”

“I find this measure completely ridiculous and symptomatic of the lack of unity that still exists within the peloton. I have seen twenty emails in which the teams wrote emphatically: ‘never in our lives’. Now it is happening anyway. Not coincidentally in the Tour of Poland, with race director John Lelangue, the most flexible person in the world when it comes to the wishes of the UCI.”

Lefevere doesn’t hold back: “It is also a disgrace for the AIGCP – the umbrella organisation of the teams. I have come to know Brent Copeland as someone who always knows best at meetings, but as chairman he now shows little backbone. I wonder: what if there is a big oil slick on the road and the peloton is not aware of it? I hope that a number of people will then feel deeply ashamed.”

Zio Lorenzo has two words in response - the first is BULL. You can guess the other.

I'll point out to "Mr. Never in Our Lives" race radios were introduced by Motorola for their team in the early 1990's. I think the man was around back then, in fact a quick internet search shows he ran the GB-MG team back then and probably didn't much like Motorola having those radios until his team had them as well?

Zio was around then and remembers how the Motorola team touted these gizmos as a great advantage when racing. No longer did the DS have to drive the car up to the road captain and yell out whatever he wanted them to know for all to hear. Now instructions could be shared in-secret directly from the DS to the riders AND the riders could communicate with each other out of earshot. Seemed like a real advantage even when all the other teams had them eventually. They could all share secret instructions without the other teams knowing. 

I'd also like to know how/why you call the Olympic Games roadrace a farce, Mr. Plugge? I was there for both by the way.

When TV screens were introduced into the team cars the real era of "radio-controlled racing" began. I'd say the worst example was during the BigTex era on the infamous climb of Mont Ventoux. Tex' DS, watching TV images from the team car dialed up an infamous doping doctor who was watching the race on TV (one who worked with Tex) to sort of "compare notes" on the performance of Tex' big rival, Il Pirata.

Doping Doc told DS how long he thought The Pirate could go at that pace, which was then relayed to Tex via the radio earpiece so he could adjust his own effort accordingly. If that's NOT radio-controlled racing I don't know what is!  

Back in the pre-radio "fog of war" days Tex would have had to look the Pirate in the eyes and determine how much strength he had left with maybe at best getting some advice yelled at him by the DS from the car...which the Pirate might well be able to hear too.

The real hypocrisy here is the blathering about safety by these team bosses combined with the total avoidance of mentioning any tactical benefits of radio-controlling your riders. Is it just a coincidence that these two team bosses have two riders well-known for incredible watts/kg ratios but not so much for tactical racing smarts?

I watched a video clip asking riders their thoughts about radio earpieces and I don't think a single one of them mentioned anything about safety - it was all about tactics and the day's route, something that can be (and was) figured out well in advance before the introduction of radio communications. More than a few even admitted to yanking the earpiece out when the DS wouldn't shut up. How does that work for safety?

At least now the UCI has fired back:

“Hey Richard. You have been caught spreading fake news! The crashes in the Tour of Poland have nothing to do with the absence of radios and you know that. All riders have been helped according to our standards. The UCI’s priority is safety. You want to keep radios for instructions to your riders, not for safety”

Zio Lorenzo thinks these blowhard's bluffs should be called. If it's all about safely as they like to claim, simply connect all the race radio reception to the race organizer ONLY. Give the rider a "I've fallen and I can't get up" button to push in-case of an emergency but all the warnings about "oil slicks" and other dangers on the course would then be warned about by the organizers, no DS' required. 

Riders would have to communicate the way they did before the early 1990's and an experienced road captain might have to drop back to the DS' car for his instructions. No TV screens in the cars either...the occupants of those should be taking care of their riders and watching where they're going, advised by the race organizer via radio...the same instructions/warnings, etc. the riders and everyone else involved all hear.

What excuse could Lefevere/Plugge, etc. come up with to oppose this idea if SAFETY is the reason they so much want radio earpieces? 

Will we find out? Call their bluff UCI! Propose this solution rather than a ban/restriction on radio-earpieces.

Who designs these things?

 What were they thinking?

The people who designed this jersey for their women's squad at LeTour?

When there was already this team jersey?

The pro women's peloton was already plagued with too many pinks, yellows and oranges, now this? Adult supervision is needed here with maybe a UCI-controlled submission process? Submit your design for approval, first come-first served. Another team submits something that looks too much like something already submitted/approved and it gets rejected. 

In world where we hear "cycling's business model is broken" over and over one might think the marketing-mavens involved in designing the racer's uniforms would try to make their team stand out from the others. Are we missing something here? One of the biggest, most powerful/expensive women's teams in the sport redesigns their kit to look like a team lucky to even be invited to Le Beeg Shew?

And while we're on this subject, there's this fugly thing.

What was wrong this this one? Eddy Merckx would never have been caught dead in that ghastly new thing, would he? Belgians I spoke with at the Games said the same thing, so it's not just us.

Or these two? REALLY hard to tell apart on TV unless the camera's doing close-ups. I wonder if the riders get confused as to who is their teammate and who isn't? In European football (soccer) they make sure one team has light jerseys while the other dark, same for NFL football (football) but nobody seems to care much in pro cycling. Spend tens of $millions on a team that TV viewers can't tell from others? WTF?

E-Bikes - the other kind

 E-Bikes as Transportation vs Sporting Fun

 

Regular blog readers might remember this, our take on e-bikes after Zio Lorenzo's first experience. He's still never ridden a Pinarello Nytro so doesn't know if they're like his MAHLE-equipped e-bikes, with their gentle assist or more like the LIME bikes we used to get around Paris recently.

These things were everywhere! And like that first e-MTB Zio tried, they're really like e-mopeds rather than bicycles. There's no control on the amount of power the motor provides as far as we could tell, you just stamp down on the pedals and the thing takes off with a lurch, quickly zooming you up to  the 25 kph limit. This was great for getting around Paris but Zio's fitness tracker showed he wasn't making much of an effort compared to riding his own e-bikes.

With those the tracker usually shows a 50/50 split between "peak" and "vigorous" effort while these e-mopeds showed a similar split between "moderate" and "light", so I guess he was making more effort than sitting on a couch, but not much.

With so little effort required there's really no excuse (except maybe if it's raining?) not to use one of these to get around. It's not really cheap but compared to a car, fuel and the hassle of parking, it's probably far less. We tried the city-supported scheme first but the "app" was difficult to make work and the bikes weren't in very good condition, something that you'd understand with a sharing scheme with nobody much caring about the bike since they'll ditch it and get another for the return trip.

We eventually started to inspect each one before taking it. Some had the phone holders destroyed (not good if you're using one to navigate the city streets) while others had soft tires, broken fenders or worn-out pedals. One thing Zio would suggest is a sprung saddle - normally the tires are rock-hard and the upright seating position jackhammers your back when you hit any sort of bump in the road, so some cush there would be nice if a vandal-resistant sprung saddle could be fitted?

Sporting Fun they're not, but a great substitute for a motor vehicle to get around a crowded city. You could almost park 'em anywhere, though sometimes the battery would get low and they'd message you to park 'em in an easy-to-service area. Finding another one to get back after doing whatever you were doing was pretty easy since they were parked pretty much every/anywhere.

Amazingly, with all these e-bikes going everywhere and pretty much nobody wearing a helmet while using them, you don't read much about terrible accidents and injuries. Are all the "helmet-nazis" wrong?

not-so easyJet

 

Well, sort of I guess? Flying from Catania to anywhere doesn't yield a lot of choices despite it being an "International" airport so we flew on easyJet "a British multinational low-cost airline group that operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries" to and from Paris for the Olympic Games.

They're far from a favorite but sometimes you just have to bite-the-bullet as they say. So we did, with nothing to complain about getting to Paris.

Getting back to Catania proved to be more of a challenge. Just as we're getting close to Sicily the captain comes on the PA system to tell us landing will be delayed due to weather issues. A flight we were on years ago was diverted to the nearby military airport due to an eruption on Etna so we didn't think much about it.

UNTIL they came back on the PA and said we were instead landing in Palermo! Yep, the other side of the island from Catania. The implication was that we'd then fly back to Catania when the weather cleared but Zio Lorenzo never thought that was gonna happen. The outgoing flight from there with this plane would simply be cancelled and chaos would ensue until planes and crews were repositioned and normal schedules resumed.

After sitting on the ground in the plane for half-an-hour Heather got a message from the easyJet "app" confirming what we thought, basically "You're on your own in Palermo, sorry." But they implied reasonable expense getting to Catania would be reimbursed.

So we started checking for rental cars...none were available. Hotels seemed booked-up too, probably because ours wasn't the only flight diverted and it's the middle of vacation season in Italy? Once inside the airport we made a dash to SicilybyCar first, scoring one of the last cars they had that could be dropped-off in Siracusa, a gas-guzzling SUV with automatic transmission and leather seats.

So at least the almost 300 kilometers/3 hours to get home would be comfortable, though of course we were already out-of-pocket for the $100 taxi ride home from Catania, but at this point we just wanted to get home!

$50 refilled the tank on the outskirts of Siracusa and we eventually found a place to park the thing and walk the rest of the way home, stopping for a pizza at our favorite place. Showered and in-bed before midnight!

Will easyJet reimburse ANY of this? We've since received more communications describing how they WON'T pay for rental cars or taxi service - I guess they expected us to sit for 4+ hours in a bus or train to Catania? I'd point out if time wasn't important we could have taken a train to/from Paris in the first place. We bought airplane tickets to save that time but now it's just fine to sit for hours on a bus or train?

 We sent them receipts anyway but are not holding our breath, though we'll have to bite our tongues sooner rather than later and fly this airline again in the future (as much as we'd rather not) since there's not much choice. We'll hope the weather cooperates in the future so we don't end up "on our own" in Palermo again.

Kind of makes Zio's snarky "sleazyJet" moniker not so snarky?

Paris Olympic Games 2024

 Olympic Games 2024

We retired to Italy in reasonable financial condition, especially with the low-cost-of-living in Sicily combined with low-cost healthcare, so instead of buying that Ferrari, we'll spend some dough on fun things-to-do.

Like the Olympic Games!!!

We flew up to Paris for the weekend of the cycling road races, the men on Saturday, the women on Sunday. Once at our hotel near La Madeleine in the City of Light we got around using shared e-bikes. (More on that in a later post) so off we went to see the start.

Once they got going, so did we - over to the hill of Montmarte

And lunch! The hill was packed with people despite the racers not due to arrive here until after 4 PM. Meanwhile, we'd enjoy a roast chicken lunch with a view of the course out the window, though sadly the owner closed the place down and kicked us out (through the window!) into the throng around 4 PM. Oh well, the food was great anyway and cheap by Parisian standards!

This was the scene once we were shoved into the crowd. But the racers passed there 3 times so can you really complain? Some folks had been camped-out here since 7 AM!

Sunday's women's race called for a new plan - meet up with Marion Clignet, an old racing pal of Heather's and hang around with her international entourage for the day, hoping to scam a way into the grandstands to see the finish and the rest of the race on the big-screen. This worked out very well as the photos show, complete with a stop at the New Zealand Olympic House for some drinks and snacks mid-race. Thanks to JoAnne for that, another Olympic cyclist whose last name I forget.

After hiking (no e-bikes this time!) back to the finish area Marion escorted us past the throngs and into the grandstands to seats next to the press box. Pretty sweet, eh? Merci Marion!!!

Paris did a great job helping people get around on bicycles!

Monday night we had tix for the stadium and pole vault final among other events.

Including the world-record set by Armand Duplantis Despite having already won the gold medal he kept jumping until he set a new world record, encouraged by the silver and bronze medal winners. THAT's the Olympic Spirit!!!

Next up, track cycling. We moved to a (rather dumpy as it turned-out) hotel near the velodrome for a morning session of track racing. The track was fast, world records falling a gauche et droite as the French would say.

Records fell, helped by the heat in the indoor velodrome. It was HOT! But once inside they'd let you out to cool off without a bunch of security checks so it wasn't too bad. So "not bad" that we scored tix for the next day's morning and afternoon sessions! So we saw Kristen Faulkner win two gold medals!!!

The Brits were out-in-force. Seems to be a thing for the relatives of riders from those islands to wear t-shirts proclaiming their relationships. Regular blog readers might remember Ben Healy's dad at the Tour de France.

We had good seats for all of the sessions. There are only around 3000 of 'em so they're all pretty good.

Some fans really get into it!

Back home in Sicily we reflect on another great experience with the Olympic Spirit as we enjoy the final events on TV. Chapeau to Paris and all the volunteers and spectators. Milano-Torino 2026? We won't even have to leave Italy!!!!