Help us send Tristan Cowie to the World Championships

The BIG NEWS is that our teammate Tristan Cowie was selected to represent the USA in the Elite men's race at the cyclocross World Championships in the Netherlands. This is an amazing honor and testament to his hard work and dedication all season. Official team announcement here. We couldn't be more proud or excited!

The hard part is getting him there. There's not really any funding from USA Cycling. We run our team on a shoestring budget. The expenses related to getting Tristan to Worlds represents a significant portion of our team budget which we can't afford. That means Tristan is going to pay for this trip out of his own pocket. This is where YOU come in.

Please join us in the fund raising efforts to get Tristan to the Netherlands. Click HERE to read more about it and contribute.

Complete Our Survey, Win Great Prizes

Dear Cycling Community,

We love our sport and already know all the great benefits that cycling brings to our lives and the community around us. We need your help to gather information to attract and keep support from non-cycling companies to fund cycling events, clubs, and community-based cycling initiatives. Cyclists of all types are a valuable demographic with distinct characteristics that can be attractive for companies to invest marketing and philanthropic resources in. Please consider taking this survey to help companies understand us better. 

Take The Survey

We have tons of great prizes to give away in return for completing the survey. One lucky person will be chosen at random out of the first 20 respondents to receive a pair of Defeet knee warmers. We'll give away more stuff as we reach higher numbers. Early survey respondents will automatically be entered in all future drawings, so enter early to increase your chances to win great stuff.

10/13 12:40pm Update: We quickly surpassed the first 20 respondents. Congrats to the first winner of the Defeet Knee Warmers!
Next up - When we reach 60 respondents, TWO lucky people will be chosen at random from EVERYONE who has completed a survey to receive a pair of Defeet Cyclismo Socks (5in cuff, White with Black tri-co) in the size of your choice!

10/14/8:15am Update: We went way past the the 60 respondent mark overnight. Thanks everyone for filling out the survey! Congrats to both recipients of the Socks!
Next Up: When we reach 150 respondents, THREE lucky people will be chosen at random from EVERYONE who has completed a survey to receive a sponsor care package of product consisting of Organic Fuel from Organic Valley, KIND Bars, and Hiball Organic energy drinks!

10/19 Update: We're over 100 Respondents! Still looking to pass the 150 mark for the next prize giveaway. SHARE the survey with others to help get there faster!

Keep an eye out on this page and the team facebook page for updates on future giveaways. Best way to increase your chances of winning something? Fill out the survey early and share with others so we reach the next giveaway sooner!

Thanks for the support everyone!

Organic Fuel - The ultimate recovery formula

We are very excited to introduce the cycling community to the best recovery formula we have found - Organic Fuel by Organic Valley. The trend right now in sports nutrition is towards good quality real foods. Your motivation isn't synthetic, your recovery shake shouldn't be either. Because we love you, here's a coupon to purchase Organic Fuel from Greenlife Grocery (or any other retailer that carries it).

Insider Course Details and Tune-Up Workouts for the 2015 Cyclocross National Championships

Team manager, Josh Whitmore gets the inside scoop on what to expect from the course in Austin, TX for the 2015 Cyclocross National Championships

http://trainright.com/insider-course-details-tune-workouts-2015-us-cyclocross-national-championships-austin-texas/

Road Wheels in a Disc Brake World. Are your wheels future proof?

by Josh Whitmore

Like it or not, disc brakes for the most part, have taken over the cyclocross category. Guess what? They are also on their way to your road bike soon. As brake manufacturers quickly develop the technology required to adapt disc brakes to road applications, wheel and frame manufacturers are scrambling to predict what standards will become ubiquitous. Will through-axles become the standard for front and rear? What rear spacing should be used? What size rotors should fit with no adapter on the frame? Even more nuanced is the where to locate the chainline of the rear cogset in relation to the dropout. All of these factors need to be taken into consideration when purchasing aftermarket wheels for your disc brake equipped bike.

I made the swap to disc brakes this cyclocross season. A review of the pros/cons and performance of disc brakes are another topic. In any case, this swap required replacement of my entire wheel quiver. Obviously I needed to match the new wheels with the standards of the frame and brakes I am using this season. The S-Works Crux frame currently calls for standard quick release front and rear with a 135mm rear spacing. But what happens next year? Will the bike I have require thru-axles? The good news is that Boyd Cycling has you covered with their latest disc brake offerings. Are your wheels future proof?

The meat of the matter lies in the hubs. Boyd’s new disc brake specific hubs allow you to simply swap a few parts to convert from quick release to thru-axle front or rear. The front hub is the easier of the two and can easily be converted by the consumer with no tools. The rear hub requires a couple 5mm hex-wrenches but the process is just as straightforward. This convertibility allows me to have one standard now and make changes next year if I need to, without purchasing a whole new wheelset.

Boyd’s current disc hubs require 6-bolt rotors. The Shimano R785 hydro-disc brakes I am running work well with 140mm rotors. Shimano only makes their 140mm rotors in the center-lock design, so I had a couple options. One option was to move up to Shimano 160mm rotors (available in 6-bolt). This option added some weight in rotors and adapters for the calipers, so I went with the second option: Using different brand 140mm rotors. I chose the Formula rotors for their weight and heat dissipating capabilities. I have another brand wheelset that accepts the center-lock Shimano rotors and swap between the two brands often. I am pretty sensitive to such things and honestly can’t tell a difference.

One of the greatest advantages of disc brakes is that it frees up rim design to eliminate the shape of the braking surface. Boyd Cycling is coming along with disc specific rim options, introducing the Altamont Disc rim earlier this year. The Altamont Disc has no machined brake surface, which allows the weight to be a little less than their rim brake siblings.

Boyd also offers any of his other rims to be built with disc brake hubs. I’m running the 44mm carbon tubular for cyclocross. I’ve been really impressed with these wheels this season. They combine a perfect combination of feel, strength, and weight for cyclocross. The wider rim profile matches up well to wide cross tires and allows me to run lower pressure than more narrow rims.

You can also get any of the carbon clincher rims built with disc hubs. This has the advantage of eliminating any worry about heat build-up from rim braking, which has been a historical problem with carbon clinchers from any brand. Different manufactures have addressed this problem in different ways, but with no heat worries, look for the development of much lighter disc brake specific carbon clincher rims in the future. 

In this rapidly changing world of disc brake standards, it’s nice to know that the Boyd Cycling Wheels I have now will survive future changes. I’m also looking forward to the evolution of disc brake specific rim and hub design to further narrow the weight penalty of disc brakes. Rest assured, Boyd has some exciting things in the works but at least I won’t HAVE to buy new wheels and replace my entire wheel quiver if my next bikes are different.