Rain + Mud + Bike = Problems

It has been almost 2 weeks since Mud fest '11 and I am still working to get everything sorted out.  When the skies over Bear Paw opened up at noon (just in time for the Comp/Elite waves to go off) the rain did not let up and the course turned into a slippery slurry of mud that was nearly impossible to ride in.  When I spoke to riders in the waves before they said the mud was shedding of the tires instead of sticking to them and there was still some traction out there. They were right about the tires staying clean, but my tires just did not have the tread to ride many of the technical areas of the course.  I decided to just take it easy on the course and have fun with it.  Riding was a blast, but the aftermath was pretty ugly:

 

I was covered head to toe with mud, but worse was my bike (especially the drive train).

Thankfully they had a hose on site so I was able to get most of the mud off right away.  In fact, my bike got its bath before me!  When I got back home, I made sure that I got everything dry and put some more lube on the chain.  Unfortunately, I did not pay enough attention to the BB, because when I got around to pulling it apart the bearings had seized and the chain had a new bright orange sheen to it.  Better yet was the fact that I made this discovery yesterday and Sheboygan is now only 2 days away. 

This morning I was pleased to call Jeff at JB to find out that he has exactly the BB I need in stock, so I will be taking a detour up to Green Bay tonight to get it replaced and hopefully have the bike ready to roll for SheVegas.  If not, I am picking up the trusty Epic from my parents as a backup.  Although Green Bay is a long distance from Milwaukee, I am happy to make the drive up on such short notice. 

Why?  I have yet to find a shop like JB (and many of the other Green Bay area shops) that takes care of it customers and provides Service with a Smile!  Out of all the shops I have tried in Milwaukee including W@#$%&S*()& and C$@%k D@**%s, I have yet to find a shop that is friendly to its customers and does not judge them based on what they look like or what they buy.  So Kudos to Jeff at JB and any other shops who take care of their customers, your service keeps customers like me loyal to your shop(s).

-Andy

Too Much Power!

Been a while since the last post, but I figured this was worth a post on its own.  I got out for what was supposed to be a 30 mile ride around Holy Hill.  About 15 minutes in I was climbing a short hill and started to hear a clanking from the rear of my bike.  I thought it was just some slack in the chain making noise, so I kept on climbing.  The noise got worse and I was feeling some tension in the rear wheel so I decided to investigate.  It was pretty obvious that I blew a spoke, but less obvious was what happened since the spoke remained in tact.  A little more investigation showed that one of the flanges on the hub cracked and pulled away allowing the spoke to escape!

 So unfortunately the wheel was not ride-able and I had to walk/wait for a ride to get back home.  Now I am just hoping that this is covered under warranty!  Next up will be some TLC and cleaning of my mountain bike after last weekend's race (also known as pushing the bike through mud all day) and getting ready for the last race of WORS in Sheboygan!

-Andy

Work In Progress

Been a while since my last post so I figured I should get one out here.  I'm finally getting settled into the new place in Franklin and am really liking the area.  Work has been incredibly busy which has made working out and riding difficult on good days.  The transition to a desk job has been tough for many reasons, especially dealing with the temptation to eat and drink the free snacks at work.  It is clear that I am burning fewer calories now compared to 10 months ago, when I was walking around on campus and always on the go. 
More recently, I have been working to get into a rhythm of working out and eating a better diet to try and shed some of the excess weight gained over winter.  Part of this motivated me to write an article for the company newsletter about the dreaded "off-season" and working out in winter (I may try to post an abridged version here).  I have been getting a good 1-2 hours of working out after work 3-4 nights a week and am really trying to get those numbers more consistent as spring is coming fast.  My workouts have included a lot of weight lifting and I have been doing much more cross-training than in years past.  I really want to strengthen my knees to the point where I can go for a run and not have pain for the next 2 weeks.  Hopefully, the weights will help me with some of the power and positioning problems I had last year as well. 
Looking ahead to this year's season, I am very excited, though not sure what to expect.  I will have a lot of weekends free, but I will need to make a lot of conscious decisions about when and where to ride and which races are going to take priority on my calendar.  This year it looks like I will focus primarily on the WORS series and will not be doing the Iceman although it is a lot of fun.  The jury is still out on the other races around the area, so we will see where the year leads.  I know that I want to race Comp again this year and am hoping that I will be more prepared for the races than before.  The one thing I know for certain is that I am happy to be riding with the Titletown Flyers again this year and am looking forward to seeing everyone back on the road.

-Andy