That's why I'm so slow...
02-25-10, 05:38 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Beaverton, OR
Posts: 14,744
Bikes: Yes
Mentioned: 525 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3230 Post(s)
Liked 3,868 Times
in
1,439 Posts
That's why I'm so slow...
Have you ever had one of those days when your legs are so beat that you feel certain that you've got a drastically under-inflated tire or maybe the brake is rubbing? It's happened to me enough that I've learned to avoid the inevitable disappointment and humiliation associated with checking those things only to see that they're fine, especially between mid-winter and mid-spring.
Tuesday I was having one of those days. Monday I had ridden my fixed gear Cross Check, which flies with 700x25 tires. Tuesday, I decided that either the 700x50 Marathon Supremes on my Muirwoods were drastically under-inflated or the extra weight and/or aerodynamic drag makes more of a difference than I had previously thought.
Wednesday morning I inflated the Supremes to their 70 PSI max. That helped a little, but I still felt pretty slow. I've been very pleased with these tires in the past, so I hypothesized that my hubs badly needed to be overhauled in order to avoid the alternative conclusion that I'm just slow.
This morning, to test this theory, I gave each wheel a spin before taking the bike off the trunk rack. The rear wheel spun decently, but I thought maybe it had a little extra drag. Then I gave the front wheel a spin. It went around about three times before stopping.
Upon closer inspection, I saw that the disc brake was in fact rubbing -- and rubbing badly enough that even moving the pad all the way out didn't fix it. It seems the wheel wasn't seated squarely. I always spin the wheels when I mount them, so I'm guessing that it got dislodged a bit when I hit some road debris recently.
Anyway, the upside is that I picked up nearly 2 mph on my average speed this morning without working any harder.
Tuesday I was having one of those days. Monday I had ridden my fixed gear Cross Check, which flies with 700x25 tires. Tuesday, I decided that either the 700x50 Marathon Supremes on my Muirwoods were drastically under-inflated or the extra weight and/or aerodynamic drag makes more of a difference than I had previously thought.
Wednesday morning I inflated the Supremes to their 70 PSI max. That helped a little, but I still felt pretty slow. I've been very pleased with these tires in the past, so I hypothesized that my hubs badly needed to be overhauled in order to avoid the alternative conclusion that I'm just slow.
This morning, to test this theory, I gave each wheel a spin before taking the bike off the trunk rack. The rear wheel spun decently, but I thought maybe it had a little extra drag. Then I gave the front wheel a spin. It went around about three times before stopping.
Upon closer inspection, I saw that the disc brake was in fact rubbing -- and rubbing badly enough that even moving the pad all the way out didn't fix it. It seems the wheel wasn't seated squarely. I always spin the wheels when I mount them, so I'm guessing that it got dislodged a bit when I hit some road debris recently.
Anyway, the upside is that I picked up nearly 2 mph on my average speed this morning without working any harder.
02-25-10, 09:11 PM
#4
Internal gears FTW!
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kalamazoo, MI
Posts: 203
Bikes: 1986 Raleigh Reliant, 2010 Schwinn Sporterra NX8
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
yea i always stop just to make sure, but today... just was slow....
02-28-10, 01:16 AM
#6
Fresh Garbage
better than finding out that the cones on your rear hub somehow became really tight on the bearings
02-28-10, 07:49 AM
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 238
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I once road 85 km of a 117 km ride in a strong headwind.... i was very slow. took a lunch break at 85 km.... pushed bike cross to the road to a better eating spot and realized that the back brake was rubbing.... could not fix it so I just undid it completely, boy was I faster after that.... in fact I did not even notice the head wind anymore...
rOb
rOb
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Howguy
General Cycling Discussion
10
08-23-10 02:30 PM
