Fall Foliage Ride 2013

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fall-foliage

Sunday October 20th at 7:30AM
Signature Cycles Greenwich

Time sure does fly!!! This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Signature Cycles Fall Foliage Ride.

Our favorite ride of the year will be held Sunday, October 20.

This scenic 40-mile ride through Fairfield and Westchester counties will begin at Signature Cycles’ Greenwich location and will wind its way up to Armonk, NY on some of the best cycling roads available. After a brief refueling and puppy petting at our rest stop located at Adopt A Dog, riders will ride back to Greenwich on equally scenic and cycling friendly terrain.

Ride leaders will accompany various groups accommodating paces starting at 14mph and up. Road bikes are required for all group riders. Cue sheets will be available for any riders wishing the tackle the route on their own.

Registration begins at 7:30am and the ride leaves at 8am sharp. A $40 cash or check donation will go directly to The Greenwich Boys and Girls Club and to Adopt A Dog to support their untiring efforts to better the lives of families, children and pets in our area.

RSVP/Questions : lori@signaturecycles.com

Life is Strange, Make the Most of It

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I have many unique and exotic experiences that I want to accomplish on my cycling bucket list, developing external iliac artery occlusion wasn’t one of them. The symptoms started on July 4th during a three hour ride with our club. I had just returned from Sweden the day before and felt great during the first half of the ride. I spontaneously lost all power in my right leg and wasn’t able to recover for the second half of the ride, barely being able to pedal back to my van. The power meter was my base line monitor for quantifying  my output based on effort. The first half of the ride I was putting out 275-300 watts with moderate effort, the second half I couldn’t put out more than 120 watts without going anaerobic. I justified the sudden loss of power with jet lag.

I came home that day, felt tired and discovered that I couldn’t walk more than fifty yards without going anaerobic, creating a limp with my right leg and I needed to stop walking until my leg recovered.  Fast forward past my ten days of visiting eight specialists trying to determine the cause of my sudden weakness. The conclusion to the cause of the intermittent claudication was an occluded right external iliac artery . I needed a bypass of the artery. I vetted out Dr. Ken Cherry , vascular surgeon at UVA who has done more of these external iliac artery bypass operations than any other surgeon in the country, most likely the world. He was quick to accommodate my request to have him do the operation and we scheduled surgery August 1st.

The plan was to take the Amtrak down to UVA on Tuesday July 31st, meet the doctor and his team and get the pre-op tests Wednesday, surgery on Thursday and back home on Sunday. A nice tight schedule to get what typically is a routine operation, from the best in his field, done with time to spare for a short recovery and check over period  before we headed home.

Things went sideways quickly. I won’t bore you with all of the details, and can’t remember most of them anyway because I spent the next ten days in either a drug induced state or was in so much pain my endorphins didn’t have time or detail on their priority list. I spent most of that period in what I would consider survival mode. My baseline thought was if any human being could deal with this pain, I should be able to endure it. I have many clients and friends who have gone through much worse than what I went through and was drawing strength from them. Thank you Matty Long for being run over by a bus, I thought of you often.

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Signature Cycles Hosting Auction to Support Mountain2Mountain

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Signature Cycles Greenwich

Thursday July 20th from 6:00 until 7:30

galpin in afghanistan

 

Come join us for an auction to raise money for Mountain2Mountain, a nonprofit dedicated to creating voice and opportunity for women and children in conflict zones. The two projects running in 2013 include Mountain2Mountain’s ongoing work supporting women who dare to ride bikes in Afghanistan, and Strength in Numbers, a project that launch this summer with its first mountain biking camp in Breckenridge for young women that have survived gender violence.

In 2014, the documentary film Afghan Cycles will premiere covering the fight for Afghan women, and the courage that they’ve shown in daring to race bikes.  The film was shot in Afghanistan with Let Media and proceeds will benefit Mountain2Mountain and its continued work to support the development of women’s cycling in Afghanistan.  Strength in Numbers will also extend its reach to several more camps in more locations to build an army of women that can change the world!

The goal of our auction at Signature Cycles is to raise funds for this summer’s Strength in Numbers camp and the creation of the Afghan Cycles documentary. All of the proceeds collected will go directly to the projects. Some of the items being auctioned will come from the sponsors of Mountain2Mountain and will include goodies from Alchemy Bicycle Co., Osprey, Skratch Labs, Primal Wear, and more. As a bonus, the founder of Mountain2Mountain, Shannon Galpin, will be at the event acting as emcee, and we’ll be screening some sneak peeks of footage filmed in Afghanistan.

Enjoy the 2013 Bloomin’ Metric with Signature Cycles

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Sound Cyclists Bloomin Metric 2012

 

On Sunday, June 2nd Signature Cycles will be participating in the Bloomin’ Metric for the 5th year in a row. This event wouldn’t be the same without our community so we would like to again invite our clients and friends to join us for the 100 km ride. We will be meeting up at the Signature Cycles booth at 7:15 and then heading out for a conversational 16-18 mph average ride.

Please keep in mind that registration is limited to 2,500 riders this year and there will not be any registration on the day of the event. So don’t delay and pre-register to avoid possibly being shut out of one of bicycling magazine’s top 50 tours in the USA!

For route and registration information, please visit the official Bloomin’ Metric website here.

An Evening with Tyler Hamilton

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secretRACE

Signature Cycles Greenwich
Thursday, May 16 from 7 to 9pm

Please join us for an evening with Tyler Hamilton, former teammate of Lance Armstrong and author of “The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs”.

The evening includes a presentation by Tyler Hamilton, followed by a candid question and answer session.

Tyler Hamilton was once one of the world’s top-ranked cyclists. In 2012, he released his memoir, a riveting journey into the heart of a never before seen world, the stark choices that went along with his decision to compete at a world class level, and his complicated relationship with Lance Armstrong.


This is an RSVP only event so please email lori@signaturecycles.com by Thursday, May 9th if you plan on attending.

Signature Cycles Greenwich Weekly Group Rides

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SaturdayRide

It’s that time of the year again when people are putting away their trainers and taking their bikes back out into the daylight. We think this is a great time to remind everybody of the two weekly group rides that we lead from the Greenwich studio.

Our year-round Saturday ride departs the Greenwich studio at 9am. This moderately paced 27 mile ride features 1900ft of climbing and averages 15-17 mph as it rolls through the hills of back-country Greenwich. A map of the route can be found here.

On Wednesday nights, our Women’s ride leaves from the Studio at 6pm. Four time New York Masters State Champion Lori Hoefer leads this delightful romp through some of Greenwich’s finer roads. This women’s-only ride requires a road bike and averages 20-25 miles at a 14-15 mph pace.

Greg’s Majorca Ride Report

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Today we want to share a ride report from Signature Cycles client Greg Walters who is currently enjoying Signature’s annual Majorca trip.

DCIM100GOPRO

Never have I suffered more physically than I did today. Never has suffering been more rewarding. We only rode about 70 miles, but climbed nearly 7,000 vertical feet. We rode two category 4 climbs, one category 2 climb, and one category 1 climb (which took over an hour to summit).

Something happened on the first big climb (category 2 with an average grade over 6%). The pain settled quickly. I have never ridden better and I certainly have never climbed better. I passed 11 other riders, including 7 Germans. Passing Germans is remarkably satisfying. (Editors note: It’s not uncommon to get passed going uphill by a German in the big ring while riding in Majorca – they tend to be fit!) After 26 minutes of climbing, I caught Justin’s group, which had started several minutes ahead of me.

Then we prepared for a beautiful beast.

No photo can capture the glory of Sa Colabra (the category 1 climb). We climbed to the top of Sa Colabra from the backside, wound around a 360 degree turn and found ourselves overlooking a vista of a twisty descent of several thousand feet over 6.5 miles to a port below. The road snaked about hairpin turns of 10%+ grades, cut through rock, and disappeared over ridges. From the top, the road looked like 20 discontinuous pieces of asphalt dropped from above.

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Signature Cycles Presents: Meet the Makers – Round II

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Signature Cycles Greenwich
Saturday, April 27th from 12-3pm

A repeat performance and exclusive meeting of five of the world’s finest Custom Frame Builders in one location to discuss the story of their success building the best bicycles on the planet and what they have planned for the future.

The afternoon will feature a panel discussion with from the following bespoke bicycle company owners:

Bob Parlee – Parlee Cycles – Peabody, MA
Ben Serotta – Serotta Bicycles – Saratoga Springs, NY
Gary Smith – Independent Fabrications – Somerville, MA
Rob Vandermark – Seven Cycles – Watertown, MA
Robert Pinazza – Guru Bicycles – Montreal

You may have missed the North American Hand-Built Show, so we’re bringing New England’s best to you!

The event will kick off at noon with a meet and greet, light lunch, and then a “Makers” round table discussion followed by a Q&A session.

You’ll have an opportunity to meet face to face with the builders of your choice.

Join us at 9am for our regular Saturday Ride prior to the festivities!

RSVP by April 25th to lorihoefer@gmail.com or 203-485-0500

Justin Rides and Reviews SRAM Red

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JustinSRAM Red

I’ve been known to be a little hard on products sometimes, expecting more than most. I feel that with the cost of admission on the products we sell, they should work in a spectacular and carefree way. I have always appreciated the smooth ease of use that comes with Shimano products. Simply said they set up easy and work well.

I have never been a fan of SRAM road components. I remember when SRAM Red first came out and everyone was saying how lightweight it was. That’s great that it’s so light because I wouldn’t want anything heavy on my bike that doesn’t actually shift. Needless to say, while I was never a fan, some customers and friends loved it. Over the years I learned tips and tricks to set it up better than most. I used chain X with cassette Y and voila! The SRAM shifting is almost as good as Campy and Shimano.

When the new Red was announced I was intrigued by the group. The Yaw front derailleur looked hopeful. The new shifter shape looked as if the ergonomics would be wonderful. The cassette elastomer thing was a little weird, but who knows maybe they got it this time? The brakes reminded me of designs of the past, but not in the good way with it’s single pivot with a leverage increasing arm. I was intrigued but not sold. Would these parts be a “real” functional competitor?

Last winter a new frame was on the way for me, a lightweight carbon one. A Guru Photon to be exact. Full custom to my fit, design and ride preferences. A 740gr hot rod. What group should go on this rig? Di2? Campy? SRAM? “Wait, did Justin say he’s putting SRAM on his bike?” Soren and Lori scratched their heads. I decided to “Make The Leap” as they say. The group looked promising and all the folks at SRAM were so excited. I decided to go for it! Continue reading →