Racer Ex 

Going over the TT bike yesterday I noticed that the drive train was "sticky". Normally after I do a build I have things tweaked so that I can spin the crank backwards and it'll get at least a couple more rotations before stiction stops it. Chain, crank bearings, pulleys...I go for zero drag.

So I start looking and find a seized pulley bearing. It turns, but tight and with a chunk chunk chunk.

Officially (ignoring the 5s they added to my time) I was 0.07 from 6th in the TT this weekend and 3 seconds out of 5th. Figure the pulley was maybe 2-5w. Not going to do the math. I know what it's going to say.

Little stuff matters, sometimes a lot. Piece of wire in your tire, an inch at the finish, a bolt that falls out, a bad top on a water bottle...

Thought it would be a fun thread to share "little stuff" stories. I'll add another below.

Racer Ex 

So my Kask helmet uses magnets to hold the visor on. It's a novel/smart solution, poorly executed. The visor magnets are held on with a dot of two sided tape and are constantly falling off.

Prior to the weekend I reinstalled a bunch of the magnets.

Now some of us, as kids, played with magnets. It was totally cool how if you had two magnets that you could move one without touching the other...polarity! Magic! Flip them and WHAM! They bang together. Flip them and that invisible force keeps them apart.

So I went to put on my visor and...

Polarity.

Heathpack 

Wait?! This is BF. Don't you know that something that makes you 3 seconds faster is a waste of money?! You have been ripped off by Big Bicycle, I'm afraid.

Heathpack 

I have my own problems. I have brake cables in the airflow and my spouse does not want to disappear them because it will be a PIA to adjust the bars in the future if he does. I want them disappeared but don't want to cause him trouble. So I say "Disappear them and then if I need to adjust in the future, I'll pay the shop to do whatever." But he does not want to give control of the Fuji to anyone else. So I'm at an impasse and getting nowhere on this issue. I need an intervention of some sort, its getting frustrating.

shovelhd

sarals 

Death by inches.

In the Chowchilla Crit portion of the stage race this past weekend, I was actually doing fine staying in, in spite of the super high pace. However, following the finish straight was a right turn, which I was using to make up position. That was followed by another right turn, where I'd cement my position. Then came an immediate left, where I'd drop back, because I was on the inside of the turn, which I didn't like. I'd loose position, and have to make it up again, which meant extra energy in a race where I was close to my limit, and in the end, those added "inches" killed me.

IBOHUNT

Stickies and... with the amount of time that I will now have on my hands will be going out and checking my bikes for the reverse stiction deal. Thanks for the tip.

Bandera

Make a List for race day, pack carefully and don't forget your shoes like my teammate did at Districts........

PS: We still call him "Joe Jackson" decades later......

-Bandera