Monday, September 7, 2009

Chains, Centimeters, and Centuries

First a thought on bike chains. If you are like me and believe that Gatorade, Perpetuem, and road grime are excellent for lubricating, cleaning, and maintaining your chain; then you probably want to pay attention to your odometer. I had planned on changing my chain around 2K miles. However, I didn't quite make it. Luckily my chain only almost snapped. However, due to my lack of care and maintenance (hey, I'm tired after a ride, who has time to clean a chain?), I needed both a new chain and cassette. The plan for the future is to change the chain every 1K miles and the cassette every few chains. You don't want to get stuck out on one of your rides, so pay attention to your chain. Most of us carry a spare tube, but few a spare chain...

Speaking of bikes, I have been having a bit of knee pain with the increased mileage over the last couple months. After having the chain replaced, I asked Charlie at Bike Cycles to take a look at my positioning on the trainer. A few minutes, a couple of shims under my cleats, a centimeter here, a few millimeters there, and bang I was "adjusted". It is amazing what a few millimeters can do! I was more comfortable on the trainer, but the real test would come on the road...

Lucky for me, that test came the very next day with the Hot 100. A century should be a good test, right? Well, I had a great time and felt very comfortable (including the aforementioned knee). It was great to see everyone out there and lucky for us, the weather gave us the Cool, Temperate 100 instead of the Hot 100.

Thanks again to Charlie George for helping get me situated on my bike!!!

Be safe out there and have fun. Days are getting shorter :(

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