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Monday, March 14

Saint Intervals Day

I don't think I can say I'm "testing" these 27.5+ wheels and tires anymore.

A most diverse and memorable ride on Saturday.  A huge group that assembled and gelled at the US National Whitewater Center.  Fortunately, nobody told me about the St Patty's Day festivities and 5k that would see the place packed before we left for the day.  Not a big fan of people...

Anyways, this bike.  The only thing limiting my speed would be my own trust issues.  I've only pushed these tires too far in the corners a handful of times in three rides, despite how hard I've tried to find the limit.  They just stick to everything.

Being that our group had varying abilities and expectations on the day, I ended up basically doing intervals on each section of trail.  I would push things just about as far as I could on a loop, and then hold up and wait.  Something satisfying about pinning it for one to seven miles... and then hanging my head over my bars fighting back the vomit.

Our group fractured as the day went on.  We rode some "not quite finished" trail that sapped some serious energy, causing a few to head back to the parking lot.  Nick "Dip 'n Spray" Barlow had to dip out (but not spray) due to time constraints.  We hit the final seven mile loop (East Main, East Main Extension, East Main Extension Extension) in an every man/woman for themselves, running on empty sprint.

By the time we had 25 miles on our legs, the place was packed solid with happy, shining people.  Thousands of general population types here to drink beer, look at green water, listen to bands?  I don't know.  We were leaving.

As we drove out the long driveway entrance, noticing the long line of cars entering the center to our left, I spotted something in the road.  A glove.  We get closer.  Not just a glove... a HandUp glove... Faster Mustache Team Issue colorway.

"Go back, Kangalangamangus!"

He throws his ancient Honda in reverse and leans on the horn.  I'm sure it's less to make others aware of our dangerous maneuvers and more to draw the attention of all the others stuck in the entrance waiting to get in... because, in his head, it looks like this:

 
He scoops the abandoned hand cover, and I text Nick to see if he lost a glove.

We keep our eyes peeled and facing forward while we wait for a response... and then there's the other one up in the median...

which Kangalangamangus had no qualms with driving up and into for its retrieval. 

I text Nick to let him know I'm pretty sure I found both his gloves... which I'm pretty sure he still doesn't know are missing.  I mighta stuffed my junk into one of the gloves and tried to send him a picture and somehow failed to send it.  Mighta.

Unwilling to try again, he just got this:

His response?

"How?  What?"

The only other accomplishment from the day I'm proud of?

I snaked a new KMC X9SL chain into this SRAM PC1 case for hanging on my pegboard.  Long story, but it came packed in pretty much a sammich bag.  I like to keep spare parts like this on my pegboard as opposed to packed away in drawers so I don't forget I have them.  Doesn't always work, as I discovered I still have one pink and two silver KMC X9SL chains on a hook.

But you can never have enough chains, brake pads and other high wear type items.  You can have too few tho.  BTW:  This is my happy chain of choice.  As long as you're willing to accept the gaudiest color options, they can be had super cheap.  I get a full year out of one chain, they're pretty light, and look nifty to boot.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

10,000.00 bike in front of 500.00 car - nice!

Moe said...

Just curious - Why the 9 speed chain instead of 10 speed? I usually run 10 speed chains on my SS setup with a cog without ends and a Sram narrow/wide front ring.

dicky said...

I found ten speed chains to be a little tight (side to side) on my Endless cogs. That and 9spd X9SL chains can be had for less $$$.

Moe said...

Not everyone likes a snug chain on their cog... It does seem that 10 speed chains are pretty snug on the Endless cog, but they somewhat wear themselves in pretty quickly. I have ran both 9 and 10 and have not had any problems for a few years. I had a 9 speed cut to fit my 18&19T and a 10 speed to fit my 20&21T. I don't know how many miles I got on my Endless cog before a stick got pulled through and broke a tooth off, but they last an impressively long time. I just received a fresh new cog yesterday, so I'm back in action.