john224

I am feeling a little down after another mechanical failure forcing me to abandon the race while barely into it. This is only my third race and the first two were flats with one of them causing me to fall and break my first bike. This race was supposed to be a fun 26 miles out and back race by age groups with mass starts and a control vehicle controlling the rolling start. I felt good and stayed somewhere in the middle of the pack as the group yo-yo'ed a few times until the pace started to settle down and suddenly I get the sick sound of metal on metal rattling from my rear wheel...And as I am pulling over to the outside of the pack to stop I nearly fell over as the rear wheel locks up from a broken spoke. The spoke broke right at the nipple and even with the rear brake caliper fully open the rim was so warped it wouldn't roll freely...another race that ends before I got a chance to start.

I thought I was well prepared as opposed to my first two races; I had the bike tuned up at the LBS two weeks ago, did 30 minutes on the trainer right before the start of the race to loosen up, and was really looking forward to at least finish the race for once!

I would almost prefer to have a race marshal pull up and tell me to hop on the SAG wagon because I exceeded the allowed time on course than not even have the chance to push myself. What else do you guys do to prepare and prevent these situations? I understand the flats were luck of the draw...but a mechanical just plain sucks!

john

ericm979

Not much to do other than make sure the bike's in top shape before a race.... check the bolts, wheels, cables, chain, tires.

I like to do all the work myself. It's easier and takes less time than bringing it into the LBS. I don't always check everything over for every race, but I do it often enough to catch any problems.

PhillyRoadie

I don't know, to me it seems like bad mechanical luck always comes all at once. I went through a month last year when I broke two chains, bent a spoke, etc. Then things get quiet for awhile.

All I've really found is that you just have to keep patient and outlast the bad luck. Hang in there. Unless you're trying to race a really crappy old bike, or your LBS truly sucks, you probably just need to apply some really zen-like patience, and it'll all be over soon

Psimet2001 

Sucks to have that kind of luck. What racing are you doing? Doesn't sound like USAC races.

In USAC races you have opportunities to put wheels in either a wheel pit for a crit or a wheel truck for a road race. In all 3 of your races that would have helped you.

I've been riding for over 20 years. I have been a bicycle mechanic for just as long. As a result I generally don't really think much about my maintenance and I have had fairly good luck avoiding big mechanicals during races so far.

In general try to ride solid and proven gear. As for flats - you can reduce your probability of picking up a flat by using proper tire mounting and seating technique as well as making sure to inflate your tires to the proper riding pressure for your weight at the start of every single ride.

I prefer to race on handbuilt wheels I have built myself. I have less issues with them than I have with prebuilts.

umd

+1 to doing your own work

john224

the first race I did was a CAT 5 crit, I hung in there for the first 15 minutes of the race until the tire tube exploded as I was coming down a fast right hand turn and literally threw me over the handlebars. Everyone there thought it was a gun shot...the wheels are Mavic SLs and I normally inflate the tires (michelin pro) to 100psi. The second race was the Austin Pace Bend CAT 4/5 race which if I remember the course correctly it was a 5 lap race around a pretty cool course, again a flat on the opposite side of where the wheel support location for the course. By the time they were able to send a truck to get me...I was watching the group cruise by on their third lap... This race was not a USAC race and with that, no support.

I was really looking forward to just having a good time and finish this race so it was a real let down. I took the wheels to the shop and had them repair the spokes and true the wheel and even they were surprised at how it broke.

The shop is pretty awesome, got the bike fixed for me in a few hours and it's ready to go. I feel pretty good now that I got it back and determined to ride out the rut tomorrow morning on a nice long ride.

I got to find another race to enter soon and get this bad luck behind me.

thanks everyone for replying
john

currand

How much do you weigh and when was the last time you inspected the wheels when you had the tires off?

jonestr

For a regular flat, yours sounds like you actually rolled a tire as a regular flat does not go off like a gun shot, you can do what everyone in NM does and put a bit of stans in your tubes. It will go a long way towards keeping you rolling. As for your broken spoke, how old are these wheels? Broken spokes should not be a common thing on well built wheels. You might looking into getting something that is well built for the season. I think Psimet covered that though.

john224

that's what we thought as well, but when we looked at the tube post crash it was split straight down the middle at the seam about 8 inches...which I thought was caused by a pinch flat or me rolling the tires off the bead but the shop thought otherwise, regardless it's still rotten luck and not much I could do there. The wheels are mavic SL 2005 or 2006 which were just 'trued' two weeks prior to the race. I am considering a new wheelset and since CC is having a sale on their PT built open pro, I am actually thinking about that route which would give me two upgrades in one buy...but I'm afraid of loosing the fun part once I introduce the scientific part of riding to the equation. Just like when I did club racing/track day riding with motorcycles...once I got a lap timer...the fun went downhill, and it was all about lap times...

jonestr

That could be true with you and the powermeter, but you may just be thinking about it in the wrong way. If you try and utilize it as a tool to help you take breaks and you dont look at it much except for post ride analysis it may not detract from your fun.

For me I really like the power meter as it gives great feedback on what I am doing and need to do to get better and allows me to self coach better than I did under heart rate.

geraldatwork

You may have a bad batch of tubes. I use clincher tires with light weight tubes. I had been using one brand for a couple of years with a minimal of flats. When I got another batch of 5 tubes I kept flatting one after another. Three on one ride. I checked the tire/wheel and the flats were in different areas. Got a new batch and didn't have the trouble again.