Soaking, Windy, Gritty and Great

It's never easy to hop on the bike and head out on a ride when it's rainy and windy, but this one felt necessary, as it's my last chance for a long training ride before Sunday's Lakefest Race in Whitney Point.  Lots of Ithaca riders heading to this one, so it should be a friendly event and a good time.

Tonight's ride felt pretty utilitarian until I reached Ellis Hollow Creek Road. Finally, after getting away from traffic (which is unpleasant and a little intimidating in the wet) and loose gravel, the rain tapered off and the familiar and comforting rolling hills lulled me into a meditative state. The Ringwood climb just keeps getting better, and I barely noticed my freezing feet.

The good thing about working hard in the rain is that after a while you don't even notice it, you're generally warm enough even when it's in the 50s, and you don't have to worry about getting dehydrated. Of course, the down side is that when you return, your bike is gritty as are your clothes. I had the customary rings of grit around the my ankles and socks from all of the road junk getting thrown off of the drivetrain. Rides like this necessitate a complete cleaning and degrease, and tonight I adjusted the rear derailleur and brake cables and even trued the rear wheel, yet another meditative practice that yielded great results. Hopefully that will resolve the cursed chain-jumping-whilst-mashing-the-pedals-on-big-hills syndrome. I've done so much micro adjustments, so tonight I started from scratch and carefully adjusted the derailleur  to hopefully resolve the problem for good. The're are few things in the realm of cycling that are more frustrating than being inadvertently shifted to a higher gear in the midst of an intensive climb, and it really throws your concentration, confidence and timing.

Today I topped 1700 miles for the year, which started in early March. Vertical elevation thus far this year is just under 95,000 ft., and according to Garmin's questionable caloric data, I've burned around 105,000 calories in the last 3 months! No wonder I keep shedding pounds...

Noise VANQUISHED!

If you've been reading this blog lately, you'll know that I've been yammering on about mystery noises emanating from my drivetrain. These unwelcome sounds have been making me a bit crazy, and have shaken my confidence in my trusty ride. If you're a recreational cyclists, a bit of noise might not bother you too much, but if you ride as much as I do, this kind of thing really affects you. You obsess about where the noise comes from and worry about what would happen if you broke down somewhere far from home or in the middle of an event.

The last several weeks have involved troubleshooting and disappointments. Until yesterday, I had done the following:

• Replaced my first suspect, the cleats, to no avail
• Had the bottom bracket bearings re-greased by the terrific folks at Swan cyclery
• Degreased and re-lubed the drivetrain several times
• Removed the pedals, cleaned out the threads, re-greased and tightened up the pedals

Yesterday was bike bath day, and I recruited my friend Keith, a talented bike mechanic and photographer, to use his Park chain checker to measure my chain wear. This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, ever since Keith told me about the importance of checking this yearly. Sure enough, the tool indicated significant wear on my original Ultegra chain, so I bought a SRAM 1050 chain, and Keith kindly installed it for me. What a nifty system, with the powerlock link. SRAM is the only way to go, it seems.

So here's the kicker: I got on the bike and noticed that the noise was gone! All this time I thought that the problem was emanating from the pedals or cleats or the bottom bracket, when it really was coming from the chain. A 40 minute maintenance ride confirmed the new noiseless status. This was a great lesson in checking your assumptions and being persistent.

Thanks so much, Keith! I owe you big time.

Rookie Racing Revelations

What a goofy Tuesday race night, filled with confusion, an unwelcome puncture and an unexpected climb. Chaos is good for the spirit and makes you grow, so I'm certainly not complaining.

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!