[10 minutes later] ...ok, I couldn't stand the suspense so I called anyway. All SB'ers survived the stage 3 RR, albeit with some bonks, flats, and strange confrontations with angry vampires. I'll spill the results, but you need to visit the blogs for the stories behind the results (and the corrections to my mistakes). C-Walk wins the P/1/2 and Gary and Cookie hold onto to top-10 finishes. (Bizarre interactions between said racers ...C-Walk not making friends.) Aker and Githens (or Githens and Aker) get 2nd and 3rd. In the 3's, Jason the Hammer went on a long solo break but bonked on the final climb and was passed by 7 or 8 guys. Prof Smitty earned a solid 4th in the RR. Oh yeah, Corey won the RR and got 2nd on GC. Congrats Corey! Matt was doing well but flatted today. Not sure about the other Ranchers. Steve Wex flatted (sounds like a lot of flats today) and lost his gc hopes, and Chester finished strong in the 5s. Good on all these guys for getting the first race of the year over with, and especially congrats to Gary and Cookie for going 1-2 in the crit! What a great start to the year.
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Just an FYI in case you go through something similar... On a ride about a week ago, my Mavic Ksyrium freehub had gotten so gunked up inside that when I stopped pedaling, the cassette continued to turn, thus feeding my chain forward and into the gap between my tire and the right-side chainstay. That's not good. My wheel continued to roll with the chain stuck in there and it made a deafening loud screeching sound. OK, what to do? First, pretend it's a fixed gear for the remainder of the ride, and then deal with it at home. Not being particularly up-to-date on the latest mechanical constructs of modern racing bikes, I had absolutely no idea how to get at the problem. I have circa 1980 cone wrenches, but where are the cones on this Ksyrium hub? Sure I could have taken it to a bike shop--we have great ones here in SB--but then I'd have to pay for service and I'd feel like an incompetent idiot. Not sure which is worse.
So I did what any introverted, computer-geek, bike rider would do... I googled it.
I discovered that Mavic maintains a site that has all the online tech manuals for products dating back to 1997, but it's a password-protected site.
So, as a public service, if you need Mavic tech info, go to www.tech-mavic.com and enter username "mavic-com" and password "dealer" to get access to beautiful manuals and tech diagrams. Or you could just go to your local bike shop.
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More tech... do you use a torque wrench when assembling your bike? I never have, but now that my new bike has warning stickers all over it to tighten to specific torques, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to use one. Or I could just go to my local bike shop.
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Local group rides are getting hard! We now have another gaggle of pros hanging around SB. Jesse Anthony, Pete Lopinto, and some others are sharing a house in Carp and I think the rides will be going 1-2 mph faster from now on. Well, I s'pose we all benefit from that. Also, not sure if she's staying for the long run, but Rebecca Much of the Webcor Pro womens team is (was) here. Must be our great weather that attracted them!
8 comments:
32-33mph up the coast with Pete, Jesse, Adrian and Ben on Saturday...and the season is still early (thank god Daniel and Mike Easter didn't show up)!!!!!
Carissa
Umm...depending on the bike shop, don't be so sure that they use a torque wrench either. Just a "word to the wise" ;-)
If you get a torque wrench, you'll actually probably need 2. One for lighter torques and another for heavier ones. Another good thing for using them on bikes is to also get a set of Allen driver sockets to use with the wrenches. Most bolts on a bike are Allen head.
Marco...don't get me going on this weather! The poor United/Toyota guys are up here in "sunny" Solvang and HATING life. The Bulldog Cafe is doing better than ever though.
That f#$^$%#@ Mavic freehub is why i'm not riding a proper bike right now. I'm done with that brand.
I've had the problem you're having with a different set of wheels (also mavic). Just clean it out, and you need to make sure you use oil with the proper viscosity on the pawls...mavic has their own lube for it. Also: the pawls fly out when you're in there, careful you don't lose them.
Carissa- 32-33 mph!! Right on, SB rules and the OC drools! Tell that to your friends in the OC (e.g., malcom and strickie), in fact, tell them to roll it up and smoke it. And while you have his attention, remind Strickie who smoked him in the sprint at Mothballs last year! (I'm just trying to enrage them enough to take the trip up here and foresake Blvd/Red Trolley!)
TnA- Bikes have allen bolts?!? Who knew? No wonder I'm having so much trouble... I've been looking for the cotter pins and wingnuts.
Chuckie V- Would a caveman complain about this weather? No, he'd just ride the trainer in his cave and gnaw on some branches. But it's nice to see that here in modern times, the next week or so looks much better.
Aram- Once I took the hub apart and cleaned/lubed the pawls and springs, it worked 100 times better. I'm not ready to bail on Mavic yet... I just need to stay on top of the maintenance. At least in my case, the progression (or digression) toward the freehub sticking was pretty gradual. I knew it wasn't ratcheting freely, and when I'd lift up the bike and spin the wheel, it would quickly come to a stop. Now I know what happens when it gets too bad.
You gonna defend your Vee at Mothballs on Saturday?
my recollection of that freehub is that it "glides" on a plastic washer, presumably to save weight. This is probably why it doesn't work so well after time. Many freehubs are blown out from rain etc, but still work because of the bearings inside. That's what I remember anyhoo from a few year's back. Keeping it lubed should solve it.
I've had to re-grease my rear hub every week lately. My theory is that my rear fender collects all of the wheel spray, and drips it onto my cassette...all day long. Lots of fun.
Jake
Sorry Marco,
I'm sure you're fully aware of what kind of bolt heads are on a bike. Just call me "Captain Obvious" :-)
BTW, I received this timely link today to a review of a "bike specific" torque wrench:
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/road-bikes/review-tool/
2008-Syntace-Torque-Wrench-w-Bit-Set.384.html
Me? I like to just use the good ol' Sears wrenches. Lifetime "no questions" warranty, baby!
Thanks for that tna. John Goodman also recommended the Syntace wrenches but man that's a lot of $$ for a pretty specialized tool. Like you, I might just go the Sears route too, that way the same wrench can tighten the bolts on my carbon stem and also the lug nuts on my car!
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