XXX Hate
Xero Airy Wheels
Maxxis Xenith Tires
guest hater Aaron Wolfe

@##=#<4,r>@##=#With my lightweight race wheels leaning crumpled against the wall and the Green Mountain Stage Race approaching, a quick replacement had to be found. A couple of teammates have Xero wheels–inexpensive pre-built wheels that seemed light enough for club racing and sturdy enough for training. I looked around online and found Xero’s new wheel, the Airy.

At 1420 grams claimed for the set the Airy’s (Aries?) seemed like they would do the job. I found a dealer on eBay and had a set delivered for $470. That’s cheap enough to not worry too much about crash damage, yet still above the heavy pre-made wheel price range.

They wheels looked great out of the box, but came in at 1460 on my kitchen scale. I could feel a tiny, tiny bump in the front hub spinning the wheel in my hand. The bump disappeared after some road miles. The pawls in the free hub click in a satisfying way. I put the wheels in my truing stand: The rear was perfectly true and round; the front was round but just a hair out of true. The spokes are surprisingly thick and heavy looking, but they are few in number: 18 front, 20 rear; DT Competition 14/15g.

@##=#<5,L>@##=#More procrastination left me waiting for the Fed-Ex guy to bring me my new tires the day I planned to leave town for GMSR. I missed his morning drop off, so it was off to the LBS, where the only suitable tire was the Maxxis Xenith at about $50 a pop. That’s way over my normal tire budget of $20 for the ugly red Hutch Carbon Comps that are perennially on sale at Performance. I like using a new set of the Hutches for important races and then wearing them out during winter training with tire liners for extra protection. All this only to have the Fed-Ex guy succeed with a second delivery attempt that evening just as I was leaving.

The Xenith’s claimed weight is 180gms, which seemed dangerously light. When they weighed in on the home scale at 160, I considered not using them. But they made up for the overweight wheels. Pumped up to 120psi, off we went to the top of App Gap feeling stiff, light, fast, supple and victorious. I switched to the new Hutches for the rest of the race. The wheels continued to do the job that wheels are supposed to do.

@##=#<3,r>@##=#At Bear Mountain the next weekend I choose to put the Xeniths to the test. Pumped up to 125, the combo felt really great and strong. So strong that they survived a rock hit that surely would have ruined my old, no-longer-functional American Classic 350s. At the nadir of one of the last rollers before Tiorati Circle, in the drops, pulling some extra Gs, a large rock appeared and lifted the front end off the ground and threw me about six inches to the left. The sound was so loud that a guy next to me said “that’s why I don’t race my nice bike.” I kept waiting for the tire to blow, but it never did, and I didn’t have to open the brake. Later inspection showed no damage to the tire. The rim has a very minor ding but is still round and not quite ready for truing.

Time for Hate
Tires: $100 for a set of tires? Am I nuts? Longevity is unknown.
Wheels: The recessed nipples mean removing tire, tube and rim strip to true. The nipples are square-drive, so another tool buy is required. A week after the rainy road stage at GMSR I drained a tablespoon of water out of each rim. Nazi stand-ins of sci-fi, futurist and historical fiction films have emblems very similar to the Xero logo.

Where does this leave us?
The Airys are not fragile and costly carbon climbing wheels, and I don’t care. The Xeniths need further review, but at $50 each they won’t feel asphalt until the next big race.

Massage Stick

@##=#<2,L>@##=#I’m getting to be a creaky old codger. I eagerly look forward to the day when I can hitch up my pants and yell at kids to get off my lawn, but until then I still fool myself in to thinking I am a bike racer. I train and I race and such and many times the morning after a hard workout or race I wake up with my legs feeling like cracking teak wood.

My options were few: find a masseuse (a great idea, but a very impractical one as I have an erratic schedule and would have a hard time popping out of the house to go for a “rub” without getting stabbed by my wife out of jealousy and anger) or find a way to do it myself.

Here is where the Massage Stick comes in. The theory is that you can use the Stick to massage your own damn legs. Simple. You grab the handles on each end of the stick and roll away at your pegs like Nana rolls the pie crusts before Thanksgiving. There isn’t much more to add here as far as technique goes.

That lyrical technique description notwithstanding, I will say that I’ve noticed a big decrease in soreness the mornings after my workouts, so it would seem my manic thigh rolling is working. So, now when you imagine me typing away at my keyboard, pumping out internet drivel, you can add an image of self massage to the mix. Thank me for that mental image later.

Time for hate…
Is there a more ridiculous scene you can think of than sitting at your computer and practicing self massage?

Where does this leave us?
Until you can afford a team of Swedes, this is the best option.