The
big horse,
my beloved custom made titanium bicycle, festooned with all the special rando-oriented bits and pieces is in the shop for a midwinter makeover. More on that later.
my beloved custom made titanium bicycle, festooned with all the special rando-oriented bits and pieces is in the shop for a midwinter makeover. More on that later.
I
have not ridden any ‘big miles’ events in some time. These BHAG events are the hallmark of the rando
crowd, but reviewing the logbook I see that a trend of consistent, shorter
rides (centuries, 100, and 200K’s) is developing. At first blush this is
decidedly underwhelming, but for me, this could be the seed of a mighty oak. I’ve ridden 5 1200Km events and nearly as
many 1,000k brevets. Those things always
stand out as major accomplishments, and so they should. Those epic endurance fests are well remember controlés
along the Cue sheet of one’s riding accomplishments, quickly recalled when someone
asks, “What was your most memorable … (fill in the blank).”
But
what do we really know about ourselves? Better
than our strengths, we know our weaknesses, better than our triumphs, we know
our shortcomings. For me, consistency is
the moth-eaten fabric of underachievement which provides no warmth as I look back on my ride history.
So,
the emergence of regular, steady accomplishments on the bike has me
raising my eyebrows and wondering if there is some secret ingredient I have
overlooked that is helping me in this regard.
Don’t get me wrong, though I am half way through year two of my 100Km
per month string, I am not about to pop into a phone booth to change into my
sooperman tee shirt. A quick glance at the
awards section of our national rando mag will reveal that there are lots of riders
sporting impressive strings of monthly accomplishments. I am but an egg. These
baby steps don’t count, until one can look back at them over years.
That is the irony and also what makes consistency
such a different (and in my mind more remarkable) accomplishment than the ‘epic’
get. If it were the same as completing PBP, I could shout from the roof tops “One
in a row!” after my first 100Km monthly permanent a couple years ago. See the
difference? No one thinks about that
steady drip, drip, drip of water which began 40,000 years ago when the stand on
the rim of the grand canyon staring into the maw of ancient history. We value most our acomplishments that are hardest to achieve. Tortoise and hare, it’s all the same, and I
respect that hare for his dogged perseverance, something I aspire to.
Because
I have been plugging away, the elements and the efforts have apparently taken their
toll on the equipment. I broke one of the
shifter paddles on my bike a couple months ago.
At the time I thought the shifting was getting a little harder but
assumed it was me getting a little weaker, or just me honing my whine, and
then, Ping!; the shifter paddle went flying across the road.
I
do my own minor maintenance but this is the next level. These Campy shifters are like a Swiss watch,
lots of tiny bits, springs, pawls, cable connections, all needing to go
together in a certain,intricate order. My pal Brian rebuilds his own shifters, but he’s
got the patience of Job; I’ve got the
patience of a hungry five year old with ADD in a candy shop, so it was off to
the LBS. As mentioned, I do my own minor maintenance (emphasis on monir). I recently replaced brake pads and noticed that the brake cable was starting to
fray at the brake clamp. Two and two caused me to consider the possibility that
the cables and housings had been replaced ….how long ago? They certainly had not been serviced since. Friction between the cables and housings can cause sticky of hard shifting.
So
I dropped the big horse off for a checkup and was chagrined to find that the
diagnosis was a well worn drive train and need for a rebuild of the ‘other‘
shifter. According to Corey the chain
rings, cogs, and chain are all much closer to the end of life than the
beginning. I expressed my surprise as we
stood there discussing the forlorn looking patient. It hadn’t been that long since these
components were installed had it? Well actually it had been that long. It was this this
prompted me to look back at the log which reveled the increasing incidence of one and two hundred
km dots on the calendar. More than I thought.
Looking
at the bottom bracket, hubs, fenders, the lower half of the bike generally, Ian
(the consulting second opinion) mentioned that it looked as though I had been riding in
the rain. These guys are both seasoned randonneurs
with much more impressive palmarès than I, so they know perfectly well what it
takes to ride consistently here in the PNW.
It
was true; the bike looked as if I had left it in a creek bed for a week. As mentioned earlier, I do minor maintenance
so usually I clean the drive train off and lube the chain after these winter
rain fests. I had not done that before bringing
the bike in and the better light of the shop revealed that the wet roads of winter
apply their own destructive version of grinding paste to the running gear.
There
are still a few really crappy months of riding ahead, so we agreed that the
shifter would get the rebuild now, and that I would ride out the winter on the
current drive train, postponing the major overhaul would until April, or May
after the worst of the weather has headed for the southern hemisphere.
As it happens, some
of the equipment on the ‘upper half’ is in need of work as well. I have for the last few years had a problem
with one of my hands. A couple of my
fingers lock into a curl if I make a fist (or grip a hammer or wrench, tie my shoes,
brush my teeth, etc). It has always been
annoying but has gotten worse since last summer. Now I can’t un-bend these fingers without
pulling on them with my other hand, and it his painful. I would say excruciatingly painful but no
need to insert gratuitous epic-ness where it does not belong.
Anyway
the orthopedic surgeon I have visited says it is not uncommon, and is easily remedied
with a “simple outpatient procedure”. I
love this euphemism for cutting open your body with a sharp knife and then using
a dentist’s drill and all manner of modern tools to carve up, reshape, or remove
excess body parts. You can probably
guess how enthusiastic I am about this.
He says it’s outpatient work but I will need a driver to get me home. He also says it requires about two or three weeks of
recovery. On this point I questioned him
very closely.
You
see where I am going with this I am sure.
I have not gotten a date for the ‘procedure’ but I think if I can get
those monthly rides out of the way early in the next month, and follow up shortly thereafter
with the chop shop, then I should be able to schedule the next rides late in
the next month, aloowing plenty of time for recovery and keeping my pathetic little strings alive. A consideration I would have never been
concerned with, if I had not taken a peak in the logbook.
Stay
tuned
Hey Paul,
ReplyDeleteCouldn't find any other way to contact you so apologies for it being a comment. We bought a site www.bikeblogcollection.com a while back and have now changed brand to a new site and wondered whether you would change the link you have in your sidebar to our new site www.NotAnotherHill.com
I look forward to hearing from you,
Kind Regards,
Adam Samuel
Founder of NotAnotherHill
Adam:
ReplyDeleteHappy to, but you will have to pay me double what I was getting from bikeblogcollection.
You can reach me at pjinoakville(at)comcast(dot)com
Dr C