You had to do it, didn’t you. You had to build the perfect freakin’ bike! Here I am all set to ride my road bike up at World’s Toughest (which you also built!) because it descends better, climbs better, blah, blah, blah. This evening, though, just for grins, I decided to ride my Carbo up my local mountain for the first time. It was a bit windy, 35 mph blowing right up the mountain from the west. Anyway, I am on this thing - with the same front wheel, tire and computer I had on Sunday when I PR’d my ascent, and my speed is in the double digits - I don’t think I saw more than 9.5 mph on Sunday during the whole ride and here I was at 11 in the aero bars! What the hell is up with that? Now my tri bike climbs better than the road bike? I actually had to stop myself from going all the way to the top because I am technically tapering - I am certain that I would have beaten that time, buy quite a bit.
But at least the road bike descends better, right? WRONG. To my utter amazement, I simply flew down hill - twisties or straights - didn’t matter. I am no poster child for descents, you can ask any of my friends, but here I was flying down the hill on my tri bike and this is with the 35 Mph winds having a party with my Spinergy deep section wheels that I was also riding for the first time on this bike.
So, Ves, thanks to you I now have a no excuses bike - faster up hill, faster down hill, faster all around. I can’t rely on the “I had a rough time climbing that hill - tri-bike you know…” or the “I had to take it easy on that descent - tri bike, you know…” excuses, either. Now I can only blame my talent - or lack thereof. DAMMIT! Of course, I have no choice but to race the thing this weekend…
There’s a pic of the bike below - if he keeps building them like this, the USAT is bound to make them illegal…
I raced my Carbo last year for the first time, and didn’t know how much better it was than my previous year’s bike. It was a rolling course in a city, with a decent couple of climbs. The bike was very good going uphill. I was surprised. It seemed more like a light-weight road bike set up for climbing. But, the Carbo was truly amazing going downhill through a chicane of cones on rough pavement…I was able to stay in the aero bars and scream through that descent. The previous year, like everyone else, I was having to sit up, brake, then pick my way through.
It’s a really good design and it was put together by an expert. If something happened to my road bike, I’d buy a road frame from Ves.
You had to do it, didn’t you. You had to build the perfect freakin’ bike! Here I am all set to ride my road bike up at World’s Toughest (which you also built!) because it descends better, climbs better, blah, blah, blah. This evening, though, just for grins, I decided to ride my Carbo up my local mountain for the first time. It was a bit windy, 35 mph blowing right up the mountain from the west. Anyway, I am on this thing - with the same front wheel, tire and computer I had on Sunday when I PR’d my ascent, and my speed is in the double digits - I don’t think I saw more than 9.5 mph on Sunday during the whole ride and here I was at 11 in the aero bars! What the hell is up with that? Now my tri bike climbs better than the road bike? I actually had to stop myself from going all the way to the top because I am technically tapering - I am certain that I would have beaten that time, buy quite a bit.
But at least the road bike descends better, right? WRONG. To my utter amazement, I simply flew down hill - twisties or straights - didn’t matter. I am no poster child for descents, you can ask any of my friends, but here I was flying down the hill on my tri bike and this is with the 35 Mph winds having a party with my Spinergy deep section wheels that I was also riding for the first time on this bike.
So, Ves, thanks to you I now have a no excuses bike - faster up hill, faster down hill, faster all around. I can’t rely on the “I had a rough time climbing that hill - tri-bike you know…” or the “I had to take it easy on that descent - tri bike, you know…” excuses, either. Now I can only blame my talent - or lack thereof. DAMMIT! Of course, I have no choice but to race the thing this weekend…
There’s a pic of the bike below - if he keeps building them like this, the USAT is bound to make them illegal…
Could you share the geometry of your bike that makes it so special? thanks
I don’t have one of Ves’ bikes, but I climb better on my tri bike than my road bike. I just find that sitting up over the bb instead of way behind it results in easier pedaling mechanics.
Now that I’ve got a frame that is long enough for me, it’s stable as a rock coming downhill, even with me hanging off the front of it in the aerobars.
I’ll look for you at WTH. Won’t be able to miss that bike.
