First of all, if you're a semi-serious road biker, you take really good care of your equipment and keep your drivetrain as clean and as perfectly lubed as can be. You also check for wear and tear and make sure that critical contact points (cleats, pedals, crank, etc.) are properly tightened. I've been doing what I think is a pretty good job in this department, so I've become increasingly alarmed about noises that I'm hearing while pedaling. At first I thought the issue was worn out cleats, so I replaced them, but the noise didn't go away. Next up, I checked pedal, bottom bracket and crank tightness, and yet the noise persists. Now I'm thinking that it's either the pedal bearings or the bottom bracket bearings, but in any case, it's as distressing as hearing some kind of persistent noise in your car, and a certain amount of unease has pervaded my cycling in the last week or so.
So starting out tonight's informal race, I was already thinking excessively about this problem, trying to calculate when it would be best to live without my bike for a day. (Yes, the addiction is so far advanced.) The race started off very, very slow, up Ellis Hollow Creek Road to Ringwood. I didn't understand the leisurely pace and I should have asked, but instead, I pulled ahead of the group and started making my way up Ringwood. I kept slowing down, but nobody was passing me, which was most confusing. Then, as luck would have it, I got a front puncture. I think I set a personal best for roadside tube replacement, and quickly got back on the bike. I was a tad too hasty, because after a bit of climbing I realized that I left my helmet behind! After recovering from my stupidity, I made my way up to Midline, and was delighted to see that the B group had yet to start the Midline descent.
Catching the B group was very good fortune, since I wanted to learn better race strategy, and the A group is just too challenging for me to really figure out how and when to attack. I moved my way up through the B group and was right up front with the leaders as we turned onto Rt. 79. I foolishly assumed that we would be doing the same route as the last time the Tuesday group did this route, but I was taken aback when I found that we would be looping around and doing the Ringwood climb again! Turns out that the first Ringwood climb was treated as neutral—if I had only asked, I would have managed my race strategy differently and saved more fuel for the climbs.
I got dropped by about 10 riders on the second Ringwood climb, but those of us left behind formed a very effective paceline and clawed our way back to the lead group. Finally, on the Snyder Hill return climb I somehow found an energy reserve and was able to pull past most of the B group and finish strong. What a terrific feeling to pull out a good finish after a challenging middle section.
My bike is now in the infinitely capable hands of Glenn Swan, who will surely get to the bottom of my crank noise issue. It'll be hard to live a day without my trusty bike, but I think I'll manage!
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The Tuesday races usually start with a moderate pace ride to the start, then once it seems that everyone is there, a route is decided and the racing begins. Sometimes different groups take slightly different routes too.
If you're able to keep up with the A's most of the time, you probably want to stick with that group if you can. The B group is getting pretty big, and just ends up in a clump on inclines, and causes some fairly unsafe riding at times. If more of the faster B's move up to the A's, than hopefully we can stay with the A's, have a challenging ride, and not be stuck in a huge pack. The bunch sprints at the end of some of the races are pretty frightening sometimes when the group gets too large and is not strung out.
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