Houston we have a problem...
Man, oh man. What an amazing day we had here. Middle 50's. It felt like the 70's. It was a bit windy, but I swear even that felt warm. This is January? I'll take it!
The day was so nice it was deceiving. I overdressed by just a touch. A zipper adjustment and a push on my arm warmers and all was in good order.
And things were going really well too. I mean really well, from a wattage point of view. Every time I consulted my SRM, the readout said I was having one of those amazing days when crank arms fear for their lives. I hadn't even intended to make a lot of watts. I set out for a couple of hours on the road, so effort-wise, I was holding some power in reserve.
I should have gone ahead and used the watts though. My ride only lasted about 90 minutes. Do you recognize what this is?
I noted yesterday my shifter was getting wonky. It was so cold out and I'd ridden through some ice melt. I thought it might have been some ice freezing somewhere in the system. I checked it at home before I left today. I made a minor adjustment and shifting was flawless.
Then about an hour into today's ride I started feeling the individual strands in my rear derailleur shifter cable let go. Thirty minutes later at the base of a monster climb I went for a big cog and got a really small one instead, accompanied by a really loud pop. Unfortunately home was over that hill, and powerful as they were today, my legs couldn't get me up there in a 39x11. I walked it.
Then I pedaled squares all the way back to home base.
Seen that before...
I was on a century with Pete and Cary...About 70 miles in, Pete had that happen....He did not even complain, he just kept riding and suffered a bit more on the hills.
The next time I rode with Pete, he was running sans derailleurs. It was not too long after that and I started pulling gears off my bikes too.
Hard to imagine
It's hard for me to imagine riding that gear up much of an incline. I know the two I had to climb were in the 12-15% range. Those climbs slowed me down to the point I was putting all my strength into turning over the cranks. I think I could have turned them too, but the bike was flexing all over the place. That caused the chain to start grabbing the big ring.
I bailed. I couldn't stand the sound of all that crunching and popping in the drive train. Better to walk.
Mark Ewers
I may not be fast, but I'm 2 old 2 go slow
We had a lot of rollers...some bigger than others.
He knew the route well, and all hills had a nice approach, where he could pour on a BIG head of steam and keep the gear turning all the way up and over the hill.
This is not to say he did not suffer miserably...
I know the feeling
I know exactly how that goes because that's exactly how it was for me. It's a good workout if you're looking for a an adventure into the pain cave.
Mark Ewers
I may not be fast, but I'm 2 old 2 go slow