...is the best kind of ride! I put another set of washers in the stack that space my rear brake caliper, tightened the Eno and went out for a ride. I hammered a local trail (Egypt valley SGA) and was not able to dislodge the chain.
The ride felt good. The weather was perfect and the trail was in great condition. My computer isn't working, so I don't know how fast I went, but it felt pretty fast. I'll take it.
I might be doing Poto this weekend. I also might not be doing Poto this weekend. I have some other plans that will take up one full day of the weekend, so I don't know if I can spare another full day for riding. In a year where I was full-on racing, the answer would be clear-poto would get ridden hard and put away wet. As it stands, I might spend Saturday scraping and painting garage trim. Blah...
The anti-chain-drop parts shipped today. They should be here early next week. I want to get them installed and get back to hammering the big gear. The back-up is just under 2x1 (34-18), so riding it is fun but only so much of a workout. The main bike will be sporting 40-17; that'll break a sweat for sure.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Shame
Last night I...
I assembled a geared crankset. I dusted off a set of shifters.
What is wrong with me?!?
I assembled a geared crankset. I dusted off a set of shifters.
What is wrong with me?!?
Saturday, June 24, 2006
More Frustration
I rode the back-up bike today. The chain won't stay on.
Grrrrr.....
I'm very close to converting one bike back to gears.
Somebody talk me out of it!
Joe
Grrrrr.....
I'm very close to converting one bike back to gears.
Somebody talk me out of it!
Joe
Friday, June 23, 2006
One Last Try
From time to time, the chain falls off my bike. Most often, this happens when I am riding hard. For example, during Iceman 2005 or the first Milkjug race. However, it doesn't fall off every time I ride hard. I rode extremely hard at DK, and had no chain issues at all.
Every time I think I have this figured out, something new creeps into the equation. I now believe that when all drivetrain parts are out-of-the-box new, the chain will not fall off for at least 200 miles of hard riding. After that, the chain will not fall off during light or moderate riding, and can even put up with some hard riding. However, the combination of slightly worn parts and frame flex causes the chain to fall off during repeated hard efforts.
I will not let chain issues ruin another race for me.
To that end, I have the following parts on order; A Raceface 40t bashguard, a new 40t Blackspire DH chainring, and an N-Gear Jumpstop. This combination should keep the chain on; it works for some Very Fast People who must flex their frame more than I ever could. If it doesn't work, I will retire my current bikes from singlespeed use. Perhaps I will give up the singlespeed thing at that point. Or perhaps I will get a new frame. I just don't know yet.
As far as riding is concerned, I have been taking it a bit easy this week. I was frustrated with my performance at Lumberjack, and I wanted to sort through my chain issues before I got that bike out again. My other ss is set up with 34x18, so riding that hardly counts as a workout. I did get the road bike out on Monday and Tuesday for rides with Becky. I hope to put in some harder efforts this weekend. No endurance racing on the horizon until the job situation is more stable. If I get all the chain issues worked out, I'd like to do a XC race or two so I don't get too rusty.
Every time I think I have this figured out, something new creeps into the equation. I now believe that when all drivetrain parts are out-of-the-box new, the chain will not fall off for at least 200 miles of hard riding. After that, the chain will not fall off during light or moderate riding, and can even put up with some hard riding. However, the combination of slightly worn parts and frame flex causes the chain to fall off during repeated hard efforts.
I will not let chain issues ruin another race for me.
To that end, I have the following parts on order; A Raceface 40t bashguard, a new 40t Blackspire DH chainring, and an N-Gear Jumpstop. This combination should keep the chain on; it works for some Very Fast People who must flex their frame more than I ever could. If it doesn't work, I will retire my current bikes from singlespeed use. Perhaps I will give up the singlespeed thing at that point. Or perhaps I will get a new frame. I just don't know yet.
As far as riding is concerned, I have been taking it a bit easy this week. I was frustrated with my performance at Lumberjack, and I wanted to sort through my chain issues before I got that bike out again. My other ss is set up with 34x18, so riding that hardly counts as a workout. I did get the road bike out on Monday and Tuesday for rides with Becky. I hope to put in some harder efforts this weekend. No endurance racing on the horizon until the job situation is more stable. If I get all the chain issues worked out, I'd like to do a XC race or two so I don't get too rusty.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Lumberjack
DNF.
My first real dnf in an endurance race. It was hot, well over 90F. I had some bike problems. Mostly, however, I just had other things on my mind. I was not focused the week before the race. The race was just too hard without the proper focus.
Congratulations to singlespeed winners Dan Jansen and Danielle Musto! They did great under horrible conditions. Chris Eatough, the overall winner, was amazing.
My first real dnf in an endurance race. It was hot, well over 90F. I had some bike problems. Mostly, however, I just had other things on my mind. I was not focused the week before the race. The race was just too hard without the proper focus.
Congratulations to singlespeed winners Dan Jansen and Danielle Musto! They did great under horrible conditions. Chris Eatough, the overall winner, was amazing.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Still riding, not much blogging
I did a nice century last week. 5.5 hours, so the pace was not too hard. No drama, which is the way I like it. The only interesting thing was my food consumption, or lack thereof. I ate two Hammer Gel packets, 2 bottles of Gu2O, 2 bottles of water, and a cheeseburger from Burger King. That was it. I eat more than that just sitting at my desk all morning at work! :)
Becky and I rode together quite a bit this week. We were out on road bikes twice and MTB's once. Here riding is coming along great; I am sure she will do fine for the metric century in July. It's too bad she doesn't have more time to train; she would be hella-fast!
This will be a pretty easy week. I'm thinking about another easy-pace 100 tomorrow, with one-hour spins the rest of the week. I will drive up to Lumberjack on Friday afternoon, and hammer like there was no tomorrow on Saturday.
More on Lumberjack gear and expectations later in the week.
Becky and I rode together quite a bit this week. We were out on road bikes twice and MTB's once. Here riding is coming along great; I am sure she will do fine for the metric century in July. It's too bad she doesn't have more time to train; she would be hella-fast!
This will be a pretty easy week. I'm thinking about another easy-pace 100 tomorrow, with one-hour spins the rest of the week. I will drive up to Lumberjack on Friday afternoon, and hammer like there was no tomorrow on Saturday.
More on Lumberjack gear and expectations later in the week.
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