I'll admit I like the classic look of the cycling cap and have produced quite a few images for VeloDramatic wearing my favorites from Rapha and Outlier. In truth I never ride anywhere without a helmet (often over a cap). My brain may be the only thing that distinguishes me from the asphalt we ride upon, so I have a vested interest in keeping it protected.
Assuming you're not repurposing an old garden bucket, it's certain that your helmet meets one of the mandated safety standards (CPSC in the US), and most of you probably own one or two. Like everything else VeloDramatic my helmet collection is a little over the top. There are now five helmets hanging neatly in the garage: a Specialized S-Works; a Catlike Whisper and three helmets from Giro; the Atmos, the Ionos and new for 2010, the Prolight.
Head on, the iconic, vented appearance of the Atmos and Ionos have always been easy to spot in the pro peloton and it hasn't hurt the fortunes of Giro that Mr. Armstrong has been wearing one, well... forever. I'm not sure if it's that gaunt pro visage or perhaps they all wear size small, but helmets generally look better on the pros. Hawkish, sharp and well proportioned. Mere mortals, like me, tend to have bigger skulls (I wear a Large) and some helmets make you look like you're wearing a Yakima SkyBox on your head. Finding a good fitting, good looking helmet isn't always easy.
Enter the Prolight. Giro claims to have gone back to the drawing board with this new model and it looks and feels the part. True to its name, its very light. My Large weighed in at 227g, compared to my Ionos at 361g and Atmos at 327g. It has a softer, less angular appearance. Like its predecessors (which are still actively produced and sold) the Prolight is manufactured with Giro's In-Mold technology, a process which bonds the outer polycarbonate shell to the inner EBS liner in one operation. More interesting is the new Roc-Loc SL self-adjusting harness. Instead of a ratchet mechanism to fine tune fit, the minimal SL system relies on a broad band of mildly compressive elastic at the back of your head to provide a stable fit. Giro uses a lighter webbing for chin straps, and provides an additional measure of adjustability with three snap-in connection points on the helmet body.
I'm really surprised how well this minimalist system works. I'm used to loosening my helmet, particularly when wearing it over a cap, then snugging it tight. There's no need for any of this with the Prolight. Grasp the rear band, slide it over the back of your head and snap the chin strap closed. The helmet stays put. The band is comfortable. Feels like a winner to me.
The vents on the Prolight look smaller than either the Atmos or Ionos, but there's no lack of airflow.
The Prolight is available in four colorways: Blue/Black; Red/Black; Black/Carbon and White/Silver. I love the subtle textural graphics of the latter and it's sure to be cooler on hot summer days. If you need a new helmet or just want to add to your own collection; maybe coordinate with that new white bar tape this Spring, you can't go wrong with this lid.
Switching topics. I've recently added an Elinchrom Quadra lighting kit to the photo arsenal. It pains me to say I can't always shoot with available light, so the trick is getting proficient and creative with strobes. I spent last Saturday experimenting with the Quadras, shooting the Giro helmet and sunglasses against a variety of backgrounds using a Rotalux Softbox on one head and a Varistar umbrella on the other. You'll see some of this photography over the next couple of posts as I look at more products I like from Giro.
Finally, thanks to a couple of regulars for pointing out that Garmin plans on releasing a new Black/White/Silver version of the Garmin 500 in conjunction with the Tour of California. I don't think for a moment they were listening to me when I made the point that the standard blue trim on the 500 doesn't coordinate with many bikes. I'm looking forward to the new version, I think I'll Ebay the blue one that Garmin just replaced after my recent mounting problem. Thanks, Garmin on both counts.
There's a kid inside every pro. The realities of life as a professional are often harsh but the spark lit by that first bike ride burns bright in most of them; they still love their bikes. Last week I photographed both ends of the spectrum, spending a day with members of the St. Louis-based Vera Bradley Womens Team and a fun Saturday morning with a bunch of kids riding and playing on the Coyote Creek Trail.
The Vera Bradley Foundation has been raising funds to battle breast cancer since 1994. The eleven female riders, managers, mechanics and soigneurs that comprise Team Vera Bradley Foundation, are out to help those fund raising efforts, win bike races and make cycling more accessible for women. The newest members of the team spent the morning at Specialized's Bicycle Components University, getting a complete bio-mechanical analysis and BGFit on their new S-Works Amira race bikes. Positions were changed (along with some strongly-held beliefs), components swapped, insoles trimmed and cleats shimmed. They left... dialed in and ready for a rainy training ride back to Santa Cruz over the hill.
The hill in this case was a fantastic climb up Mt. Madonna Road. The narrow ascent winds steeply through a grove of Redwoods, reminding me of Tunitas Creek with a twist... a mile-and-a-half from the summit the road turns to dirt. The girls took this in stride, in fact they made it look ridiculously easy and while I shot them in the misty gloom beneath that ancient canopy, I wondered how far back I'd be laboring on those pitches.
We said goodbye to the rarefied heights of professional cycling and returned to the beginning... to kids and their bikes. Jaci, Gabi, Lulu, Amelia, Max, Gunnar, and Lukas reminded us what it's all about. Fun.
They spun about a playground, alternating between bikes, swings and the basketball net. They traded bikes, rode them into the sand of the volleyball pit, through piles of wood chips and with mildly concerned parents looking on, down a steep little gravel hill repeatedly. Willy Nevin's girls Jaci and Gabi raced cross last year, holding their lines amidst the 55+ men. Their confidence and energy hinted that they may complete the circle and end up knocking at Vera Bradley's door one day. And wouldn't that make their dad proud.
Chester (Chet) Kyle officially retired in 1984, one year before Mark Cote, Specialized’s aerodynamicist was born. The elder statesman of aerodynamics appears everywhere in the literature. Designer of the US team bikes at the 1984 Olympics, co-founder of the Human Powered Vehicle Association, and consultant to Specialized, Nike and others, Chet asks probing questions and prefers to record his data in a large, well-thumbed journal. Though he’s seen it all, he displays a childlike enthusiasm for his science every time he steps into the tunnel.
Mark Cote the younger, speaks rapidly and thinks even faster. He spits out numbers and does calculations on the fly befitting an MIT pedigree. His respect for Chet is obvious and genuine. Together they’re a formidable team.
Also attending, Chris Reikert, professional triathlete and recent addition to Specialized's SBCU making the trip out to better understand the wind tunnel story he'll soon have to deliver in the classroom and to provide a skin suited victim as needed. Aaron Vogel, Specialized's videographer and Chris D'Alusio, Head of Advanced R&D (owner of the legs below) arrived day two. Last but not least, Mike Giraud, former team mechanic and patient host, runs the A2 tunnel during testing. Over two days he logs at least a hundred trips between control room and test platform, changing bikes and bike attitudes vs the wind.
Tunnel 101
The wind tunnel sits like a giant worm in a cavernous hanger on the outskirts of Moorseville, NC a few miles up the road from Roger Penske’s racing operation. The tail end of the tunnel is driven by four electric fans rated between 40 and 200 hp. Air is pulled rather than pushed through the tunnel by these impellers, and their exhaust is slowed by huge metallic diffusers that resemble the engine shrouds on a Saturn V.
In the wind tunnel as in all scientific experimentation, repeatability is key. The recirculating flow within the building helps maintain a constant air temperature. Temperature fluctuations would change the density of the air and consequently affect the repeatability of run after run.
At the front of the tunnel, the recirculated air is pulled in and accelerated by a smoothly reducing tunnel mouth. The A2 tunnel has a maximum test velocity of 85 mph, but cycling research generally happens in the neighborhood of 30 mph.
The accelerated air then passes through a very fine grid of hexagonal cells, think of them as short tubes that straighten the airflow into the tunnel. This is exactly the same principle as a lighting grid applied to a photographic strobe. It harnesses the light, reduces spread and produces a controlled, directional source. This is what the hex screen does to tunnel air.
Twenty feet into the tunnel the splitter plate is a raised platform 15” off the tunnel floor that isolates the test bike/subject in the airflow from the mechanicals below. Bikes are fixed at both axles by mounts which pass through the splitter to the measuring apparatus beneath the floor. There peizo electric cells/strain gauges turn force vectors into voltages which are passed to the control consoles and inserted into the sophisticated spread sheets which comprise the software behind the tests.
Tires rest on rollers that spin the wheels in sync with the air flow and a central disk within the splitter plate allows the mounted bikes to be angled into the wind (both drive and non-drive side are measured).
It’s Cold in There
I’m sworn to secrecy about what was tested on that platform but details aside it all boils down to answering two questions. How much is the wind holding the rider/bike back (wind access drag) and when under yaw conditions, how much is it pushing the rider/bike over (wind access side). Who said you’d never use that trigonometry again.
It surprised me that all the calculations boil down to differences expressed in grams. Bike A, in this configuration and attitude is 20 grams better than Bike B. Moving through the positive and negative yaw angles of the testing protocol the results drop into the spread sheet and graphs.
Much of the regular testing in the A2 tunnel involves riders tuning their positioning. When you’re actually riding the cooling affect of the moving air is comfortable. Sitting on the bike in a skin suit, approximating a mannequin is a different matter entirely. It’s cold in there, and even shooting my eyes were watering at times.
Get with the Flow
Flow visualization is where it really gets interesting. Out comes the tuft wand, a hollow metal rod through which a bit of string or wool is passed. Six inches or so streams about in the airflow around the bike attaching itself where the laminar flow sticks close to the frame surface, fluttering in turbulence. Chet, Mark and Head of Specialized Advanced R&D Chris D’Alusio all focused on these subtleties. Mark had a stethoscopic contraption that let him listen to the airflow around the frame, and hear the relative static of turbulence.
Two days of testing generated a lot of data that will be analyzed in the coming weeks. This kind of testing is an expensive proposition and the program was packed. Hypotheses were confirmed and judging by the grins the surprises were all positive. Of course, as you may have read in the last few days, the UCI has ruled Specialized's Shiv can no longer be used in UCI-sanctioned races (it remains legal for triathletes worldwide). I know Specialized believes they've done everything possible to conform to the standards and the "boxes" prescribed by the specifications. Baffling it has taken the UCI months to come to a conclusion, long after races have been won with the bike. Having said that I know Chris D'Alusio, Mark Cote and the rest of the Specialized engineering team will be hard at work on a solution.
Photographing the Tunnel
It's not as difficult as going down a coal mine, but a working wind tunnel is not an easy place to take pictures. Any of the desirable head on, three-quarter front views are unavailable during actual testing, even with a remote camera. And when it comes to light... well it's a TUNNEL. Like many venues we find ourselves shooting in, it wouldn't take a lot of upfront planning or cost to make a huge improvement for photographers, but somehow it's always an afterthought. Drop in a prefabricated paint booth shell, you know the ones that are daylight balanced so that painters can judge the color they're laying down, and you've got a beautiful environment for shooting the bikes and riders that come to be tested. You heard it here first.
UPDATE: Garmin contacted me today and wants to see the unit and mount. I'm happy to see them react proactively to the issue, and hope this is an isolated problem with an explanation. More information as and when I get it.
A few weeks back I wrote that the Garmin 500 had a new twist and lock mount, perhaps as a reaction to the problems that some users experienced with the slide-and-latch mechanics of its predecessors. Out riding yesterday, my Garmin 500 broke free from the mount and skittered behind me as I crossed a six lane road. I stopped quickly, laid the bike down and ran back to retrieve the unit (advantage mtb shoes) before cross traffic ran it over. Expecting it had just released, I was dismayed to find that pieces of the unit itself had cracked off in the mount (see photo showing one of the pieces). Examining the 500 closely revealed the plastic molded pins on the back of the Garmin unit itself had broken away. Nothing struck the Garmin during the ride, and the road I was riding on was perfectly smooth. I'm baffled.
I suppose I'll have to send the unit back to Garmin, which I'll do this week. This is the first time Garmin hardware has failed me, ironically with the new mounting mechanism. Perhaps the old one, wasn't so bad after all.
Mooresville, North Carolina is NASCAR country. Thirty minutes north of the high-banked turns of Charlotte Motor Speedway, the A2 Wind Tunnel is the little brother of a larger facility that plays host to round-the-clock testing by Sprint Cup teams. I'm flying out with Specialized engineers on the red eye tomorrow night for two days of aero testing. I spent Sunday dialing in my cameras with the Daytona 500 marathon running in the background just so I'd have something to talk about with the locals if the situation arose. It was the first time I'd watched a stock car race in years, shame the racing was interrupted by two hours of track repair. Literally, watching epoxy dry.
I'm keen to see the science of aerodynamics in action and hopeful I can make some decent images inside what's basically a 14' wide by 9' high gray tube between instrumented runs. I've told them I'm ready to get on the bike, if they need some truly low speed sampling.
Campagnolo Heritage Jerseys
Meanwhile, I've been been tracking some fabulous Campy kit for 2010. These heritage jerseys will probably cost a fair bit. Look for them soon at cbike.com. I'm already standing in line.
C821 - Heritage Half Zip Logo Jersey
C822 - Heritage Half Zip Flocked Logo Jersey (sportwool)
C814 - Heritage Full Zip Logo Jersey
C820 - Heritage Windproof Light Textran Jacket
It's been a topsy turvy week. Kitted up and ready to ride Monday morning, I turned awkwardly and spent Monday and Tuesday flat on an aching back unable to move... that put an end to any momentum the previous week's improving mileage had promised. Adding insult to injury the rains held off and the sun came out. Crud.
Speaking of Crud, Brian at thewashingmachinepost generously sent me a pair of Crud RoadRacers. These superlight plastic fenders (160g for the set) are the perfect complement to any road bike that will see foul weather action. The ingenious design, complete with breakaway safety struts and self-centering "feeler" pads took about 30 minutes to fit on the Enigma. There's almost zero clearance when installed which makes the fenders as low profile as you can imagine. Your bike will look clean and so will your clothes, avoiding that mucky stripe that does your kit no favors.
Look closely and you'll see a little filament improvisation for the front-fender-tip clearance.
There's a better mod to be made when I have time, but this works perfectly.
I really like them. They're amazingly quiet except for the occasional sound as a leaf or bit of debris zips between tire and fender. The Crud site has plenty of test documentation to allay any fears that anything taking that path will catastrophically stop your wheel and take you out. The RoadRacers will be on the Enigma for the duration of the Northern California winter.
The RoadRacers attach to your struts with O-ring secured connectors
Braced for Action
I was still hurting Wednesday but braced myself for a scheduled shoot at Specialized where World XC Champion and Olympic medalist, Christoph Sauser (Susi) and mechanics Benno and Sandy were paying a visit. I spent the better part of the day photographing Christoph and the Specialized team of engineers and designers discussing equipment and sharing race feedback. If that wasn't enough, the legendary Ned Overend was in attendance. Ned was also nursing a bad back... we compared notes on wincing.
Christoph sharing feedback with the team
Mountain biking at Christoph's level involves an incredible amount of technology, rivaling the aerodynamic sophistication of TT bikes. I tried to follow the engineers and mechanics as they discussed intelligent suspension components (one of which is called the Brain), exotic drive train mods and the surprising proliferation of carbon. I finally lost the place when they spent ten minutes discussing a single bolt.
When the meeting broke, everyone wandered down to the build room. The Specialized HQ is always cranking with energy but there seemed to be more excitement than usual about 2010. With Saxo Bank and Astana riding Specialized ponies this year, there's an urgency in the building and a sense that all the pieces are coming together for a stellar racing season. Bikes lean against every desk and dogs sleep happily nearby or wander about as accepted members of the team. I wanted to stick around to shoot Christoph and some of the team who were going out for a ride, but my back was toast. Awkwardly, I bent myself into the Audi and headed home.
Christoph's mechanic Benno sporting some nice ink
Getting Back on the Bike
The pain let off and flexibility improved enough to swing a leg over the bike and ride to work Friday. My well-rested legs felt good but I took it very easy, slow pedaling up to lights to avoid having to put a foot down jarring my back. In the few days I'd been out the cherry blossoms had burst on the scene. It felt like an early spring and I was comfortable wearing only a red long-sleeve Rapha jersey, ¾ bibs and baselayer. It won't last of course, the rains will be back before Spring truly arrives, I'm just happy to be riding again... the Crud RoadRacers are light enough that they don't register as impediments in the dry. They're staying in place for when it gets wet again. Fingers crossed the back cooperates.
The sharp stuff got me again tonight. I stopped once to pump some air into the tire, but managed to get the horse back to the barn without having to fix it in the rain. There's nothing so black and mucky as aluminum rims in the slop. Some of that inky black stuff splashed up on the pristine front of my cream Rapha rain jacket... not that I hadn't considered that possibility, but I'll admit it did have me questioning the wisdom of selecting cream over grey.
After further consideration, I have no doubt the splatter would look equally bad on the grey jacket.
I rinsed the bike off, fixed the flat and set about trying to get the muck off the jacket. All it took was a liberal application of Shout Advanced Gel stain remover* (product plug) worked into the spots with an old cotton sock. To my surprise all the stains lifted with some vigorous rubbing. Given how many spots were on the jacket it took a good ten minutes to get all of them. Then I laundered the jacket on the delicate cycle, warm wash/cold rinse... and it emerged good as new. Now that's good news.
Somewhere on a secret test track in Germany, Apple engineers are putting the final touches on an application that didn't make it to yesterday's iPad launch. Rumor has it that Jobs was uncharacteristically restrained from pressuring the team to deliver the project, code named Colossus for the main stage presentation. Charles Forbin Jr. who heads the Colossus team is part of Job's trusted inner circle and a good friend of Bradley Wiggins.
This rendering leaves little doubt that Apple is about to dramatically change the landscape (or portrait) of cycle computers; its a frontal assault on Garmin, who Jobs has been annoyed at ever since his Garmin eTrex malfunctioned during a lunch hour hike to Hidden Villa.
Details are starting to emerge about Colossus and at least two pro teams have been seeded demo versions of the iPad and Colossus in recent weeks. Sky is reportedly one of those teams. With the iPad's public debut, expect to see the test unit on Wiggins Pinarello very soon.
Wind tunnel testing has shown that the low profile iPad has impressive drag numbers despite its size. Deda has fabricated several prototype stems with a revolutionary vacuum mount that channels low pressure behind the headtube via a specially ported fork. Amazingly the vacuum is strong enough to secure the unit on the worst pave Belgium has to offer. Perhaps we'll see it make it's first race appearance at Paris Roubaix if it passes the UCI's technical review.
So here's the lineup of features slated for a release late March. As the world's largest bike computer by a factor of 20x, the iPad's 1024 x 768 pixels can display an astounding amount of data. In other words why wait to analyze ride data until after your ride, when you can do it all, "so simply and easily on the iPad" while you are riding. All the basics are covered: speed, distance, time, vertical speed, vertical distance, grade, and power of course. Colossus goes much further, leveraging the iPads accelerometers to provide critical data about acceleration and deceleration vs. power in the peloton. With the potential demise of team radios riders will increasingly be left to their own devices to decide race tactics. Precisely what Job's engineers have in mind.
With an iPad running Colossus mounted on the bike, that device will provide an unprecedented flow of decision support data... data that may mean the difference between getting in the move of the day or getting back in the team car. Complete local weather, rendered in stunning detail on the touch sensitive screen, including critical cross wind alerts (Alberto will order three). And it will respond to several cycling-specific gestures being developed by a disgraced former member of the Italian national team.
Is the picture getting clearer; the iPad and Colossus are going to change cycling forever. Need to know how much water, exactly, you are carrying back up to your team, Colossus will calculate weight to a tenth of a gram. Imagine a journeyman pro having this data available when his contract comes up for renewal.
Cycling specific iPads will indeed have the back mounted camera expected by so many pundits. By projecting an image of the road and front wheel on the screen with a data overlay (Apple refers to this as a heads down display mode), much of the unit's apparent mass is rendered invisible. In the interest of safety an emergency zoom mode is automatically triggered in the event of a front tire blowout, giving a rider precious extra seconds to watch the tire come off the rim. I'm going to reserve judgment on whether this will make the iPad's bezel look even bigger.
Expect to see three accessories during the second quarter. iPans, an ingeniously designed set of front panniers that connect to the iPad, the iProw mount that allows the iPad to be mounted vertically on the front of aero bars (the camera now fires directly forward meaning a rider can stay tucked longer); and finally a rear mount compatible with Fizik's ICS system so that team members in the draft can see exactly what gear and speed their lead out man has dialed in.
Given the fantastic video capabilities of the unit I'm already imagining Cavendish running his iPad behind the saddle. Visualize an afterburner animation as he lights it up... it's sure to scare whatever crap is left in the peloton every time he gets out the saddle.
Some features that were part of earlier prototypes will not make the initial launch, most notably the fish finder. The unit will ship with an ebook entitled, the Rider's Guide to French Brothels. Now that's an immersive experience. I'll be lining up to buy one, unless Steve reads this and sends me one for evaluation.
Seems like our whole lives go by the numbers. We start off measuring ourselves against the kitchen door and it never stops.
Grades, scoreboards, girls' telephone numbers, salary, mortgage, it all adds up. Cyclists may be among the most chronic counters. Logging mileage is just the tip of the iceberg... calories, feet of climbing, power, heart rate, cadence all are fodder for increasingly sophisticated computers. Garmin's latest, the Edge 500, takes a fresh look at the data we love to collect.
No doubt getting input from the men in Argyle, Garmin engineers slimmed the unit down. It weighs just 57g compared to my comparatively portly Edge 305 at 79g. There's a new spin-and-lock mount, secured to bar or stem with o-rings. It feels very secure and that's going to be well received by those who experienced problems with the slide-and-latch mechanism of its predecessors (I never ejected my unit while on the road, but I did snap the tabbed latch off one mount).
Cosmetically, the white and silver unit is prominently trimmed in Garmin blue... that's great... IF YOU HAVE A BLUE BIKE. I'd rather they'd stuck with a neutral scheme: black, white, silver or better yet, provide optional colored bezels. Did no one tell them; we obsess about the total look of our rides?
Even when we're not riding, we're still counting. Last week a combination of weather and work had me go five days between rides, the longest I've gone on foot in three years. Around day four paranoia kicked in and I started thinking this is how you stop riding for good... so it didn't matter that Thursday was horrible out, I was riding no matter what. Some records are NOT meant to be broken.
The Edge 305 survived a trip through our washing machine so I had no doubts about the 500's ability to survive the elements and an accidental drop (or two). Garmin hardware is tough.
Two years ago I complained bitterly about the sorry state of Garmin's Connect software. After acquiring the once nimble MotionBased startup, Garmin seemed intent on hobbling backwards with a slow, buggy and functionally inferior service. I'm happy to report that Connect has improved (at least this afternoon).
Connect Rates a B
Software is the great differentiator. Get it right, the iPhone comes to mind, and success follows. Get it wrong, and a line of dissatisfied customers will soon stretch around the internet block actively sharing their bad experiences with everyone who'll listen. Connect looks cleaner. The dashboard tab displays the last 5 uploaded activities, and the most recent one in detail. The Activities tab shows a 20-record table with quick edit functionality that's passable but hardly efficient. Curiously it provides edit capability for "event type" which is not displayed in the table itself. During the upload process two of my activities never completed processing (with a checkmark indicator) but nevertheless appeared in the table. That kind of disconnect doesn't foster confidence, and there's more.
Firmware Web Updater Rates a D
Logging back in while putting this post together I noticed that there was a firmware update for the Edge 500 (v2.1). After downloading and installing a 20+MB web updater tool, the update was downloaded and applied. Unfortunately, here's where things didn't work so well. The updater carrier finished its role by indicating the device would restart. It never did by itself. Twenty minutes later, I restarted the device and the update was validated but in the process all my screen settings, bike info and history were erased. So much for that great comeback, some of the old inconsistencies remain. Solution: Connect should store all of these customized settings and refresh them on the device in situations like this. There will have to be a pretty compelling reason to update the firmware for me to risk having that happen again.
It's tough to count on software but without it we'd be back to scribbling in notebooks. That might be an option I'd consider, if I could read my own handwriting.
The rains have finally come to California and while there's plenty of styling opportunities to be had wrapped in seasonal jackets from Rapha and Showers Pass it's hard to believe that this time last year I followed the Continental boys as they rode the route of Stage 2 of the Tour of California on what amounted to an idyllic summer day. Today was more like the weather the pros endured a month later in race itself.
Don't get me wrong I know many of you have been in the deep freeze and across the pond the U.K. faithful have had the worst winter in years, so spoiled as we are, I'm not complaining. I just wanted to wear my flash new shoes more than once before Spring.
I'm referring to a pair of DMT Radials. You might remember I picked up a pair of DMT Dragon street shoes last year. The Dragons share the same uppers as the Radials except the casual shoes are lace ups and the Radials close with three broad velcro straps. No ratcheting buckles, heel clamps or boa closures. Cinch them and go.
With Look cleats installed the road shoes are a svelte 314 grams each. Lightweight mesh/microfiber uppers and super stiff carbon fiber soles provide the comfort and performance you'd expect from a top line Italian shoe like this. That said, the functional basics satisfied, I'll admit I bought these purely for looks.
This doesn't mean I'm about to abandon my preference for mountain spd shoes, but I'll have more to say about that in a future post when I compare several shoes sitting in the garage waiting for better weather.
In the meantime like everyone else North of the equator I'm wishing I was in Australia watching the Tour Down Under and spinning around between stages in my new white shoes.
The moment of truth had arrived. On our way home from my nieces wedding in Toronto we were eight hours away from five cats and a good night's sleep. I had a camera bag full of gear after shooting the happy event with my brother, Toronto Sun photographer Craig Robertson (6,000+ frames between us on the day) and given the recent security changes I didn't know what to expect. One thing was clear, there was no way I was checking that bag.
Here's what happened and what you're likely to encounter flying into the U.S. from Canada with camera gear.
Step One, The Ticket Agent. With printed boarding passes we lined up to show ID and drop off the 2 bags we were prepared to check. While we shuffled up and down between the ropes I completed the U.S. custom's form. The agent tagged the two bags and asked about the camera bag. Question: Was it all photographic gear, and did I have a laptop? Answer: Yes, camera equipment only and no laptop this time. I stressed the fact I was a "working" photographer. She consulted a piece of paper and said it was OK to proceed to customs.
Step Two, The Customs Officer. Round the corner we showed our boarding passes and passports to a TSA security officer and entered another maze to wait to speak to a U.S. Customs officer. This went smoothly and there were no questions about the camera bag. We handed our customs form to an officer and were admitted to the bag drop hall before security.
Step Three, a Pair of TSA Officers, asked about the camera bag (since it didn't have a baggage tag) as we headed towards the bag drop. I told them it was camera gear. One seemed confused but thankfully the other one confirmed it was OK. Juli and I dropped off our two bags and proceeded to security.
Step Four, X-Ray Security. I checked out the other people in line, and the only bags they were carrying were laptop bags, with not a roller in sight. A security officer asked me about the bag before sliding it into the x-ray machine. I passed through the metal detector put my shoes and jacket back on and prepared to get the bag back.
Step Five, Hand Check. A very polite and smiling TSA official who happened to be wearing a burkahijab, took my bag to a table. She swabbed the bag thoroughly for a chem check and then asked me to carefully remove each piece, explaining what it was, taking off lens caps etc. I did this for my three lenses, two camera bodies, flash unit, extra batteries, flash frames, Zacuto Z-finder and then she examined the bag. She thanked me for my cooperation and told me I could replace the items and proceed to my gate.
Step Six, RCMP Hand Check Two. All passengers had to pass through a second security screening just before the gate. We were lucky, the mens and womens lines were relatively short when we got there... apparently the wait was more than an hour earlier in the day. After putting my camera bag on a table for an armed RCMP officer, a TSA security officer gave me a thorough pat down, then I repeated the entire piece-by-piece explanation of the contents, including turning on each of the cameras and flash to show they worked. The RCMP officer was professional, polite and ultimately friendly. I couldn't imagine doing this myself day after day.
It's not clear how long this kind of screening will continue or when body scanners might automate this procedure; personally I don't mind the extra scrutiny and actually feel better about getting on a plane knowing all passengers have been thoroughly checked. My camera bag this time was a Lowepro Stealth Reporter 650 AW. If this was a cycling assignment I'd need something larger and prefer to have my ThinkTank photo Airport Security v2.0 roller. The Lowepro definitely wouldn't accommodate my 200 f2 but I'm doubtful that a roller would be allowed.
If anyone has successfully negotiated a ThinkTank roller onto an inbound U.S. flight since the carry-on restrictions went into effect I'd like to hear from you. Until airlines can provide a secure way to gate check camera bags containing thousands worth of gear, photographers have no choice but to get them on the plane. I'm glad to see that security officials recognize our tools represent a special case.
I've got Competitive Cyclist to thank for the introduction to Yokozuna Reaction Cables. It wouldn't be the first time they've steered me towards great gear and these amazing strands are certainly a $65 bargain compared to the Cervelo they "persuaded" me to buy.
Back in September, with two centuries just around the corner I made a few changes to both bikes and took the opportunity to replace the stock Campy cable set on the Enigma with the Yokozuna Reaction product. While I can imagine that cables experience some quantifiable degradation in performance over, say 10,000 miles, I'm sure it's not much (and most of it could be remedied by an appropriate retensioning). Regardless, I wanted to see if I'd get the same quicksilver response that CC suggested and I haven't been disappointed. Shifting and braking are crisp, immediate and essentially frictionless.
My only quibble is a visual one. I love the spriral wrap of the compressionless brake housing, and though I understand that construction may not be necessary for shifting, the shift cable looks decidedly pedestrian by comparison. I doubt this will change if packaging is any indication... Yokozuna doesn't seem interested in competing with the Italians (I love Campy packaging). Then again if CC sells a ton of these, Andy may have some creative influence. Need some new cables, give him a call... the Reactions are available for Campy, Shimano and SRAM.
