Wednesday, July 20, 2011

It's Done

Well, I made the decision. When it came down to it, I couldn't leave potential money on the table for this weekend's race so I signed up for the expert class. Major fail I know but with over one hundred clams on the line I couldn't ignore it. Alby may be ashamed of me but that doesn't even come close to the shame I feel for him so it's all good.

Now that that is settled I can go about getting ready for the race. I purchased some nutritional items the other day to carry with me in case the aid stations blow a big fat hairy one. The race says that the aid stations will be fully stocked but give not indication as to what that means. Food? Water? HEED? so, to be sure, I'm carrying a bit of food (shot blocks) and some HEED packaged in NUUN bottles since they are easy to open and close and won't easily spill (can't say that for ziplock bags).

In addition, I'm making some minor bike mods/fixes for the race. I'll be adding a second water bottle mount so I'll only have to make one stop during the race unless it's uber hot. I'm also shortening my chain so that I hopefully stop dropping the chain off the front. A couple of drops during the Camden race and a couple on my most recent ride so it needs to be addressed. Lessee, what else, adding some stans to the tires since I have no idea what to expect I want to be fully stansed so that I'll maximize my pleasure if I cut a tire and need to add a tube. putting a tube in a tire filled with stans is fun and environmentally friendly. And, finally, I'll be sleuthing the creaking in the cockpit of the bike. Now that I've fixed the annoying BB/hub creaking, I'm now hearing something nefarious up front. I wonder what I'll hear next after I get that fixed?

9 comments:

Alby King said...

Nice scrapbooking!

Dan said...

If you got a king headset its probably that stupid O-ring in the top cap gettng worn out. If you don't have a king then I have no idea. So I probably didn't help at all.

rick is! said...

I do have a king so that might be it. I just so happen to have a "spare" headset on my now unused dos niner that I might steal one from. thanks for the tip.

Alby King said...

Another thought - isn't Heed for shorter stuff? Perpetulence is suppose to be used for rides beyond 3 hours.

One neato looking ont the go food source I read about: Wheat wrap with Nutella, whipped cream cheese, bananas and sliced almonds.

Anonymous said...

Excellent.....said 'Mr Burns like.
Now scrapbooker, bring it on home....I have a dubious cyber reputation backing you on this one! ;-) Make sure you commit carbocide leading up to it, in fact make sure everything is even coated in enrgy drink batter just for extra fuel ....;-)

WillC said...

Expert. Harumph. You better win the whole damn thing to feel good about taking any money. No matter what, I'm taking some of your beer.

Good move on the bottles. The aid station mileages look weird. 13 miles, 31 miles and then three all jammed up at the end? What?

Looking forward to this weekend.

WillC said...

PS - Damn. Just saw who else signed up for elite. Party at the back.

rick is! said...

yeah, dan v et al are a fast crew.

I'm not promising anything, I just don't like to give into peer pressure. how else did I avoid drinking and smoking in high school?

Unknown said...

Dont feel bad about racing expert, heck if I could have made it to the event I would have signed up for expert.
BTW how did it go? good event??