Review; Wend Chain Wax Kit

I picked up some Wend Chain Wax a couple of weeks ago based on listening on an interview on the SoCal Cycling Podcast, if you haven’t subscribed to the podcast it’s a great show and I highly recommend it. I have had the opportunity to use it now for the last 10 days or so with roughly 300 miles use accumulation I thought it would be a good time to write up some thoughts.

Parafin Wax has been shown to have the least resistance of all lubes on a bicycle chain. But to apply wax to a chain is a time consuming and potentially complex process invlolving stripping your chain, cassette and cranks. This product makes it easy to apply a wax-based lube to the chain.

The very first thing I did before applying the wax was clean my drive train. There is no science to this it’s more a time and patience activity than a technical one. I use a Finish Line Chain Cleaner and Finish Line Citrus degreaser. I have tried several brands and I find this degreaser to be gentle but firm especially when cleaning a dirty cassette. I did remove the cassette from the wheel and stripped it down before reassembling it. Additionally I degreased both derailleurs. Basically I had a blank canvas on which to apply the Wax.

The Wax Kit comes in a neat box. Inside are the instructions, a bottle of liquid wax called Wax Off which is used to clean your chain and get liquid wax into the links of the chain and a stick of hard wax, called Wax On; Wax On is a sophisticated paraffin based Formula that includes proprietary friction reducers as well as proven lubricants such as Zinc and Teflon says Wend’s website.

Wax On is the same format as you have with a deodorant, you twist a barrel at the bottom and this lifts the wax clear of the container. There is a small micro fiber cloth for the application of the liquid wax. Oh and there are stickers…always a good thing. I purchased my kit from Amazon, it was the same price, $30, if I purchased from Wend directly but as I have Amazon Prime I saved on shipping. One thing I will say is that it has a super nice smell, somewhere between bubble gum and gummy bears! Much better than any chain lube I have smelt before.

Application was easy, here is a quick video from Wend showing you how to. The only thing I did differently was not to turn my bike upside down, because, you know, Rule #49!

With the liquid and the hard wax applied all that was left to do was ride. So I did! As mentioned I have put around 300 miles on since first using the Wax. In total I have applied it 3 times. I tended to apply it before my longer rides rather than every 100 miles. Longer rides recently have been in the 65-80 mile range.

Ready to roll…

So how does it perform? Well, actually really well. The obvious and important thing is the reduction in friction between the moving parts. Of course this is all perceived, none of this is scientific and I am unable to quantifiably measure differences. With that said the Wax is quieter, mostly. There is a tipping point when the wax needs to be reapplied and there is a fair amount of chattering from the chain if you go beyond that point. But to be perfectly honest, from my experience, that the same for any lube when it needs to be reapplied.

The most noticeable thing is that your drivetrain stays cleaner longer. While I am not riding in rain soaked gritty roads I do find myself riding on roads that wend (no pun intended) their way through lots of dry, sunbaked farmland and that ensures plenty of dirt and dust in the bike lane from the farm machinery, tractors, trucks and the like being thrown up on the bike. Typical lube would pick up this debris and liberally distribute it around the chain, cassette and chainrings. This results in less wear, longer lasting parts means more money saved and of course a cleaner drivetrain means less resistance and is an energy saver! 

In the pictures below you can see that there is still black chain lube residue on the cassette. I think this from where the chain was not 100% clean to start with. After a bit of research online it seems the best way to clean it is to break the chain and use a sonic cleaner with degreaser and water mix to really get into the crevices of the chain. Next time!                           

After nearly 100 miles of use since the first application.

So in summary it has a big ticks in the main boxes…it reduces friction and it’s quiet! Additional ticks in boxes as follows;

• Keeps you chainset cleaner than traditional lube!
• Based on the three applications so far it one set of Wax will last a long time, I expect it to last a lot longer than a traditional bottle of lube
• It smells nice…ok this is totally a bonus but smelling nice is never a bad thing!

As mentioned the set cost me $30 from Amazon, you can buy it directly from Wend or from a local bike shop that is distributing it.

This Wax Kit was purchased by me. See previous gear reviews in the Tab above. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.

Belgian Waffle Ride; The Bike Set Up

The Belgian Waffle Ride is a unique event. It’s not a gravel ride in the same way that Dirty Kanza is and it’s not a true road race. Additionally Southern California doesn’t really have gravel, mostly we have dirt, dust, rocks or sand. There aren’t the minimum maintenance roads that you find in Kansas, these are jeep trails. That said There are a couple of sections that are actually are gravel but combined they are probably less than 5 miles.

 Polished and Lubed pre race…

You can spend three, four, five times longer than it takes to ride the course considering equipment. A road bike with a big cassette, a CX bike or the choice of new gravel specific bikes that have come to market in recent years. Last year I rode a Lynskey Cooper CX. I picked it up used from a Facebook Swap Meet group late in 2015. I eye balled the size, switched it over from SRAM to Shimano and upgraded it slowly from random parts to Dura Ace and finally added a Stages Power Meter, racing with a power meter makes sense when you train with one! Not only did I use it for BWR but I rode it at Dirty Kanza 200, The Rock Cobbler twice and Strada Rossa…almost twice! In the fall of 2016 I used the Lynskey Trade In program and I traded the frame in for the 2018 model, it netted my around 30% off the price of a frame, which was a good enough deal for me. I went with the etched graphics as they just look classier!  The newer model came with a tapered headtube, thru axels, a gravel specific frame, wider chainstays and flat mount brakes. My old frame was stripped down and the parts moved over. I had to switch out the brakes as the newer model had flat mount brakes with compressionless cables. I went with mechanical TRP Spyres, I like mechanical, if it breaks I can probably fix it or jerry-rig it to get me home.

With the upgraded frame switching across the cockpit and components was easy. The bike was specced with 3T Ergonnova Bars, these are alloy with a nice flat top, I use the Fizik gel pads under them and then they are wrapped in Fizik bar tape, there is an Arx Stem and a carbon Stylus Seatpost, everything is in black. The seat is an ISM Prologue, yeah it looks funny but I can sit on it for 200+ miles and it’s my ass. I have one of these on every bike. ISM have stopped making this model so whenever I see one for sale I snap it up.  There is a K-Edge Garmin Mount and Chain Catcher (I can’t think why you wouldn’t put a chain catcher on any bike these days)! The chain is lubed with Wend Wax, it keeps it clean and running.

I switched across the entire drivetrain including the power meter. I’ve been riding with Power since 2013 and my first PM was a Stages which is why I had no issues in buying another, with hindsight I have found that this type of riding where you don’t have the smoothness of the road can result in some odd numbers, especially when you “stomp” on the pedals, 2000 watt spikes are not unusual.

The Bottom Bracket is from Hawk Racing, it’s the sealed CX version. Best value for a steel bearing version and sealed against the elements. I have one on my road bike with nearly 13,000 miles and it still spins like a laser through warm butter!

In advance of Crushar in the Tushar I did some research on gearing. The 50/34 11-32 was fine but with two 10,000’ summits I was looking for something that would give me a bigger ratio. I settled on the Wolftooth Tanpan. The Tanpan is an inline device that lets you mix and match Road and MTB gearing. It’s needed to take up the gearing cable differential between the two types of groupsets. This let me switch out my DA Rear Derailleur for an XT MTB Derailleur and add a 11-42 cassette, this gave me a 50/34 11-42 gearing. I can pretty much ride up a lamppost with this. It was the same set up I used for Mauna Kea ascent in October. It’s a bit fiddly to set up and to be honest I let the boys at Wins Wheels deal with it. I have managed to completely eff it once resulting in the need for new cable. It’s not the prettiest of things but it works. The other advantage of the XT derailleur is that it has a clutch, this takes up the slack on the chain and reduces the risk of it bouncing off. Shimano has just (as of this writing) released an Ultegra RX Clutch Rear Derailleur with a clutch and it was used by John Degenkolb at this years Paris – Roubaix.

 How many gears; 50/34 with 11-42!

In keeping with the 3T theme the bike had 3T C35 Pro Discus wheels, these are alloy (not carbon) and are kinda deepish so there is some aero benefit. The biggest discussion after gearing for the race is tires. Last year I used Clement X’Plor USH and had no issues. This year I had planned on using the Hutchinson Sectors that we had been given at Camp last year. At Camp this year IRC had come on as the official tire sponsor and they had three offerings. I thought long and hard and chatted to several folks for an independent opinion. They all suggested the IRCs were a more puncture resistant choice than the Hutchinson's and were a faster tire than the Clements. I picked up a pair of Serac Sand CX Tubeless and fitted them. They stayed on the bike from January and I had no issues with them on race day. They are 32mm wide so much more of a CX tire than a road tire but the filetread pattern affords some grip in the climbs and corners. I opted to run them as clinchers (with leftover Bontrager slime filled tubes from DK) rather than the recommended tubeless. I have little to no experience of tubeless and now wasn’t the time to start at the bottom of the learning curve. They were inflated to 65psi. My only concern was was that they were super tight on my wheels, as in took 30 minutes to fit tight and almost breaking the indestructible Pedro’s tire lever, vs. 3 minutes for the Clements and using just my thumbs. Fortunately I had no punctures on race day.

Cloudy Day at the SPNDX Stampede!

Plenty of grip in the dirt!

Final items on the bike were a Topeak Pro Pack saddle bag with an extra Tube, lever and C02. I like that it hangs down and is not wrapped around the seat post. Up front was Road Runner Burrito Bag, another spare tube, C02 sealant, spare derailleur hanger, extra Gel and an emergency Payday bar!

Pedals are Crank Brothers Egg Beaters, I wear MTB shoes and I like that these are easy to clip into. They have both developed an annoying squeak, I have been told that this is due to sand in the spring. I’ve blasted them with compressed air but it remains!

The bottle cages are by Electra and they mounted a Silca Tactica pump on the frame.

With the bags and pump mounted the bike weighs in at just over 22lbs. It’s not light by any stretch, my Cervelo R3 is a svelte 15lbs by comparison. But the weight is offset by the ride. The titanium frame just soaks up the trail. I’ve ridden  this bike and the prior version down (and up) trails that were MTB designated. It rolls through rock gardens and the more I ride it the more comfortable I get with it’s abilities. I am hoping to go back to Dirty Kanza in 2019 and this will be the bike I’ll take for sure.

If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments

Rock Cobbler 6.0

Over a week after the event you have probably seen and read enough Rock Cobbler 6.0 Race Reports to have a good understanding of how it was the mudpocolypse of 2019 and how this year we got to ride through Race Director, Sam Ames, house! But if you haven’t here’s mine.

I’ve been fortunate, I think that is the right word, to have ridden 3 out of 6 of the last Cobbler’s, my streak was broken last year with pesky work getting in the way and making adult decisions.

Each year the race gets weirder which is French for harder and this year was no different…and to be honest what would you expect from a race whose marketing tag line is “it’s stupidly hard”! So with that said, on with the show!

I had driven up Friday afternoon and gone through packet pick up without any issues, availing myself of some fish and chips and some liquid courage at Lengthwise, the host brewery! All good races start and finish at a brewery right, Hotel parking lots are so 2012! Becca had opted to stay at home as her hip injury is painful at best and the thought of spending the day in the car was not appealing. Other than some spotty traffic, the drive was uneventful.

Unless you’re not local Southern California has been having some rain and the week leading up to race we had rain early in the week. That left 3-4 days for the course to dry out but there was one day of rain in the offing. As we neared the weekend the forecast went from rain Friday day, to Friday night and as we woke Saturday morning the roads were dry and skies were heavy.

Folks were milling around in the Lengthwise Parking Lot putting on and taking off clothing, depending which way you looked we were riding into Mordor or the Emerald City! As usual I was a Pactimo walking model and I was able to break out some custom Lynskey kit that I had designed and had made up through the Pactimo Custom Program (ping me for more info) in the end I went with bibs on the bottom. A winter base layer, jersey, arm warmers and a light weight rain jacket and full fingered Louis Garneau gloves and Helmet, and my usual helmet liner from Headsweat, zero cover up top requires some protection from the sun (reinforced by my Dad’s recent melanoma removals) and it keeps me a bit warmer and soaks up the sweat on a hot day. The jacket folds down to nothing and actually fits into a jersey pocket or can easily, which is what I did, be stuffed up under your jersey in the back. In the end I think this was the best call, I wad definitely a bit chilly at the start but the jacket kept my dry and kept me warm at the end of the day.

I also stuffed my pockets full of Honey Stinger waffles and had a King Size Pay Day which would be a treat towards the end of the day. Pro tip; I’ve learnt now to snip the tops off everything, I don’t have to worry about opening things while riding. This makes eating so much easier and even more so with full fingered gloves.

So, with the national anthem ringing in our ears and the first drops of rain landing on our sunglasses we rolled out.

The first 15 or so miles are a neutral rollout, new this year was the route which took up through a quiet residential area. This minimized the break up of the peloton due to traffic lights and other than getting a little hairy going through wet “four corner crit” corners we were fine and in good spirits. After making our way to the usual bike path which funnels everyone to 2-3 abreast we were pretty strung out. The rain hadn’t eased either, the smooth but somewhat dirty bike path and pace meant that we were all getting a good face-full of splatter from the bike in front. Added to which I was regretting leaving my Ass Saver as home as my backside was slowly but surely getting damper and damper….oops! For future RD reading this, they make excellent Swag Bag gifts!

We finally exited this section and started the first off road part of the ride. Mostly single track this strung folks out quickly as they realized they were in the wrong gear riding up and just hadn’t brought enough gears to the party, see my thoughts below on this! Even with the current drizzle the surface was very ridable and we rolled around basically getting our bikes dirty and our heart rate into Zones 4/5.

The following short section was a little less rideable….but fortunately very hikable…and was really only the threshold to the first long climb. The key, for me at least, is knowing when to ride and knowing when to walk. Riding is, generally speaking, always quicker, more comfortable and more efficient. Pushing a 20lb uphill in the mud generally sucks. So, most folks, walked, rode and took pictures. Once you were on the top it was a nice double track trail that was very rideable and gently descended over 5 miles.

I saw the first Aid Stations and rolled by, I had no need to stop. We were spat out onto the road. From here we directed into a residential area. A short climb and we were at the end of a cul-de-sac?!? Where to go from here; up Sam’s driveway through his backyard, into his kitchen, passed his lounge and out the front door and down the red carpet…of course!

Back the way out and back onto the dirt.

Rolling our way along minding our own business and doing our best to find the best lines. We entered the section of trail that runs alongside the Kern River. This section was well churned up and more like some of the run ups you may see in Cyclocross, albeit taken to 11 with tree roots and low hanging branches…oh and new this year (vs. 2016) the Barb Wire fence had been broken was being held back, so you didn’t have to throw your bike over and climb through it. I saw one poor soul walking back out the way we had come in with a broken rear derailleur.

More ups, downs, lefts and rights and we were directed into the Private Orchard section. It’s at this point I would like to introduce our Sponsor for the next 5-7 miles…Jiffy Peanut Butter! As you would expect the orchards are very well irrigated add to that the aforementioned rain and we were in for a treat.

I was able to roll through most of it without issue and when I surfaced onto the road I saw a large group of riders with TacoMan standing by the entry to the next section. I was lucky enough to have avoided the worst of it and with riders grouped on the side of the road scraping thick mud off their bikes or breaking chains to try and remedy mechanical issues I joined a group and followed TacoMan on a minor detour onto the road and back onto the route a half mile or so away. At this point we were only 40 miles in, so less than halfway and had the big climb to come, elapsed time 3:23! A short day it is not!

Again from 2016 race the “climb” was about 9 miles with a small drop after the summit. Ride and push were order of the day. There’s no point complaining you paid good money to do this! At the second summit your treated to roughly a 10 mile descent so I took the time to stop and put on my jacket, while the rain had stopped some time ago it wasn’t especially warm.

Some rolling along at the bottom and we finally hit the last “shenanigan” of the day, the Hike a Bike section, it’s only half a mile but tops out at 49.5% grade…so the clue really is in the name!

At the top there is an Aid Station and this would be my only stop of the day, a mini can of Sprite and a bio break and I was on my way again.

From here we had about 5 miles of dirt left and we were back on the river path for the ride to the finish. I leveled up my skills and was able to put my jacket back on without stopping…much easier on 33mm tire vs the 25mm on my road bike.

As usual the Finish is not at the start and you have to keep your eyes open for arrows to guide you there. A lot of people miss this detail (or don’t bother) and as such don’t pass through the Finish Line and a awarded a DNF. Once at the Finish I was too cold and too tired to linger. I buddied up with two other guys and we retraced our steps back to Lengthwise…and like that Rock Cobbler 6.0 was in the bag!

Some awesome finish line food, one pint of beer was pretty much inhaled…so I had another plate of food; Pulled Pork, Mac-N- Chees, Salad, fresh bread…this time I savored it!

I grabbed my Cheese/Cutting Board said some farewells and was on my way home!

Some final thoughts on the race and the day;

All in all I had a solid day. As noted it was wet and cold and I wasn’t sweating. I managed with two (yes just two) bottles and skipped all but the last Aid Station. I stopped a couple of times on my own time; jacket on, AltRed (ping me for my Ambassador code) swallowing a couple of times and once to pee. My ride time was 7:38, my elapsed time 7:47. Only 9 minutes of not moving!

The Lynskey (as always) was great; I had no issues with the drivetrain mudding up and the Wend Wax worked without issues through all the different types of mud, dust, sand and cowshit I threw at it. I do have a couple of follow up items; I need new brake pads, I was running out of grab on some descents. I need to switch out my 3T Wheels for my Stan's Tubeless wheels and ride Tubeless, I think this will be a much more comfortable ride and obviously the sealant speaks for itself.

Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight! Lots of mechanicals this year, mostly drivetrain related. Choose your weapon wisely! Yeah, my cassette looks like the serving platter on a Cunard Cruise ship…but it’s a bad day when I run out of gears! For the record, it’s 50/34 with and 11-42. That’s way more gearing than a 1x which is often a 42 with 10/42, I may be a bit slower, but I am moving.

On that note this year clothing and tires played their part, I don’t think anyone was running anything less that 30mm if you were you probably had a bad day. I did see plenty of 650b with MTB tires and some solid DK style 40mm gravel tires. Basically, whatever you selected you were probably right for 25% of the day and wrong for the rest. I was using IRC Serac Sand CX Tires, they’re file tread and worked well enough for what I needed, I did slip on a couple of climbs and I did slide down a couple of descents but I had no real issues.

As for the event, this is a Class 1 event, it’s well organized and well presented, despite Sam’s underselling it of as a “Shit Show” it’s far from it. From start to finish including pre and post event communications it’s buttoned up.

Yes, it’s stupidly hard, but also stupidly fun! Unless you’re at the pointy end look up and take in the view, enjoy the company around you. Misery loves company after all!

So that’s that for another year, 5 weeks to Spndx Stampede!