Third brake lever on CSC’s TT bikes
Dear Lennard,
From the UK - watching the TT at the Giro on Eurosport the other day I noticed CSC were running what seemed to be a third brake lever on the aero’ extension. Can you give any insight to this, as there is nothing on the team website - i.e., would it be wired up like a 'cross lever? Why hasn't anyone done it before and so on?
Stuart

Dear Stuart,
A number of people wrote me about this. A lot of people with sharp eyes out there! Yes, David Zabriskie and Ivan Basso placed 1-2 using Cervelo P3s (one aluminum, one carbon) with a second VisionTech brake lever on the aero’ extension to offer braking when in the aero’ position. I was there at the time trial, and I took these photos of Zabriskie’s bike.

As you can see from the photo taken straight down from above, the CSC mechanics indeed hooked it up like a cyclo-cross top lever, routing the housing right up to the lever from either side. Notice the loop of cable in front of the end of the aero’ extensions, between the shift levers. The cable from the right brake lever loops around, up the left extension tube, down the right one, through the third lever, and on to the brake caliper. Usually on a top-mounted ’cross lever, you would have a barrel adjuster attached to the lever, but otherwise the setup is the same.

Another option for doing the same thing might be to use a Problem Solvers 2-Way Cable Doubler, available via bike shops from Quality Bicycle Products. It allows you to connect two cables as one to pull a single brake (or vice versa, to pull two brakes with a single lever. It costs about $30, and “has internal return springs that keep the used lever in place during braking,” according to the Quality catalog.

Here is what FSA’s Doug Stuart (FSA is the parent company of VisionTech) replied to me about this setup:

“For professionals racing on a closed course this is a very clean set-up which allows the rider to brake/slow without having to get out of the aero’ position. At the highest levels where aerodynamics can truly be the difference between winning and losing, the rider’s ability to stay in the aero position is critical. It should also be understood that the riders really only use this brake lever to make minor adjustments to their speed versus using the lever for hard braking.”
Doug

The Giro up close
As long as we are on this subject, let me tell you about my experience at this Giro d’Italia, since I was there during May 13-22 and saw some great racing. With Connie Carpenter and Davis Phinney, I was helping put on our annual bike camp during the Giro.

This year, we saw some amazing things, starting with David Zabriskie’s time-trial win in Florence. After eating at a pizzeria right at the finish line, we watched Robbie McEwen win the sprint finish in Rossano Veneto (home of Selle San Marco, Selle Italia, and Selcof). We also saw the Marostica-Zoldo Alto stage from the top of the huge Passo Duran, where Ivan Basso made his incredible move, Paolo Savoldelli won the stage, and Damiano Cunego caved. Many of us rode that entire stage from Marostica to the top of the Duran, even throwing in an extra, and extra beautiful, pass at Cismon del Grappa to avoid a highway tunnel. That was incredible - riding those Dolomite passes on a gorgeous sunny day surrounded by so many passionate spectators and other riders. The bike-camp group saw two stage starts from within the start villages, up close with the riders, in Florence and in Marostica.

The photo of VeloNews.com diarist Dede Demet-Barry (Athens Olympic TT silver medalist) with her husband, Discovery’s Michael Barry, was taken in Florence after the time trial by one of the camp participants. It is not so obvious in that photo, but you can see in the other photo of Dede (with me) that she is very pregnant. Their first child (they don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl) is due right after the end of the Tour.

Dede was also one of the ride guides during the camp, as was John Weissenrieder, of mountain-bike World Cup fame a decade ago, who lives in Florence and is a luthier (he builds classical guitars). Alan Wollhuter, manager of the Asian Marco Polo team, and Taylor Phinney, Davis and Connie’s son, were ride guides as well.

Dede is wearing the new Bike Camp jersey, with the logo of the Davis Phinney FoundationDavis Phinney Foundation. The DPF funds Parkinson’s research and wellness, and I imagine that most of you know that Davis - still the American with the most race victories ever and the first American to win a stage of the Tour de France, in 1986 - has “early onset” Parkinson’s disease. We were fortunate to be able to ride with Davis a few times during camp. Until recently, Davis had decided not to take the drugs normally prescribed for Parkinson’s patients because of concerns about its side effects. But riding and many other things were becoming so difficult without it that he now does, and he once again looks great on the bike. We are all hoping for a breakthrough in Parkinson’s treatment so that we can ride with him for many more years.

The major fund-raising event each year of the DPF is the Sunflower Revolution Gala in Cincinnati, which this year will take place on August 19-21. Phil Liggett, the voice of road racing, will be the keynote speaker. The event culminates with a bike ride on Sunday, along with Davis, Connie, Phil, and Ben Serotta, who is giving away a bicycle for the raffle. Last year, in the inaugural event, $100,000 was raised and given to the UC College of Medicine Neuroscience Institute to support its Parkinson’s research.

Dave Szkutak, who organizes the Cincinnati event, was along on the bike camp and gave such an eloquent presentation regarding it that I imagine almost all of the camp participants will be getting together in Cincinnati this summer. Also riding with us was Taliah Lempert, a New York artist who does portraits of bicycles and who recently painted a number of portraits of the Raleigh (built by Marinoni) that Connie rode to the gold medal in the road race during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. You can find her paintings of the bike on www.bicyclepaintings.com.

The Giro is so much more accessible than the Tour, and the food is so good in Italy, it offers an awesome opportunity for a great bike camp. And Davis and Connie are so warm; all of their camps are like big family gatherings, with their kids participating adding to the family atmosphere. Add to that the most competitive and interesting Giro in memory, and I am left with a very warm feeling in my heart as I buckle down and finish this book I am writing, which is due in a week!
Lennard
 

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Technical writer Lennard Zinn is a frame builder (www.zinncycles.com), a former U.S. national team rider and author of several books on bikes and bike maintenance including the pair of successful maintenance guides " Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance" and "Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance."Zinn's regular column is devoted to addressing readers' technical questions about bikes, their care and feeding and how we as riders can use them as comfortably and efficiently as possible. Readers can send brief technical questions directly to Zinn. Zinn’s column appears here each Tuesday.