He talks of the plastic thing that's easy to strip, yet instead of loosening the 2 allen bolts, he loosens it with them tight. That's just pre-load, and tight isn't needed. Plus, it's Razor. Scary **** all in itself.

Gone for a couple of days fixing and riding my track bike.

Wednesday, I found a bike shop that carried Izumi chain and was close to a BART station. I rode the BART to San Fran and walked to the shop. I felt so Al Gore. The shop was not really a bike shop per se but a manufacturer of urban bicycles that were SS or Fixed Gear. The guys were totally into how I broke the chain since they use 1/8 track chain on their bikes. Of course, I do not know why it broke just that it did. Our take away was chain is cheap, replace it more often. Delightful guys at the company and very engaging.

I now desperately needed a Starbucks but none close by so I decided to walk to the next BART station and check out the neighborhood in search of coffee. I walked past 3 bike shops in 5 blocks and checked each one out. I found a Park Chain Break tool that is their gonzo version more suitable for a trackie. All I had was an old chain breaker that I purchased in 1980.

I found a really cool Truffle shop and purchased 4 different dark chocolate truffles. I did not have any shot blocks and with all this walking and I was worried about bonking. The truffles did the trick.

I put the chain on the track bike and upon closer inspection of my rear tire saw a flat section in the tubular that was due to my skid for life off the track. So besides breaking my chain and gouging up the bike frame, I toasted a tubular that will have to be replaced.

Thursday, I went to a morning track session to check out the new chain and etc. Since I am snake bit right now, I did a motor warm up by myself and some individual efforts. I did not want to share my snake bit status with anyone else.

However, another guy at the track blew a front tire during a motor game and came sliding off the track and at one point his handlebar was at 45 degrees and he was going straight. He too rode the bike off the ramp and onto the apron without mishap. Maybe it is very bad Karma in the trackie air these days. We could not find andy apparent places where debris or glass was around the track. S!ht happens and bike handling skills rule.

#t=7

I used the "Copy video URL at current time" thing on YouTube, but it still starts at the beginning of the clip. I think there's a conspiracy here somewhere. I blame Billy.

Ok I got the new cranks on the Sparrow. Freak me out, I am in love. I can't believe how much of a difference 5mm makes to me. Maybe its psychological but even if it is, who cares?

Started with a 10 mi lope on the Magic Bike, just a zero effort thing to make sure we got the carbon seat post back into the right position. Ave HR 100, so I am talking a minimal effort on a flat course, 13.6 mph.

Then I took the Sparrow out for a ride on the same course, allowed myself a little more effort, but still max HR was only 153 bpm which for me is zone 3, ave HR 124 bpm ie zone 1. So I was by no means working that hard. Same course 16.4 mph and three ladies top-tens on Strava on very heavily ridden segments. Unfortunately no cadence data, with the shorter cranks and the position of a bulge associated with the duotrap sensor location, I could not get my speed/cadence sensor positioned. But I felt much better pedaling with these shorter cranks, it is a very light feeling for me with the shorter cranks.

Now I kind of want to take the Sparrow up to Big Bear too. There is some kind of group recovery ride on Sunday, I'd love to do that on the Sparrow. But I doubt we can fit both bikes in the car. :(

Hey Hermes I am coming to SanFran in a couple of weeks. I plan to rent a road bike and take at least two trips, one over the GGB and up Mt Tam, and another from the Walnut Grove BART station up Mt. Diablo (from the South).

Any other suggestions??

@Hermes, hope your luck is changing. It sounds like maybe you passed your bad luck onto someone else- if so, well-played.

Variety is the spice of life. Take the Sparrow.

That Dweeb is Razor!!! OMG!

I have many but are you limited to BART access?

One on the classic peninsula rides is from Woodside, CA up Old La Honda over Skyline and down highway 84 to the coast and back via Tunitas Creek Road and down Kings Mountain Road back to Woodside. If Mount Tam and Diablo are on your dance card, you will have no problem with this ride. And there is the climb up Mount Hamilton that is 19 miles up hill 4400 feet of elevation gained.

fify

I see what you did there!

Mr H is telling me no. That's actually a pretty rare thing, lol. I'm still working on it, but it's not looking good.

We have my mother visiting and we're bringing the dog with us and we have no bike rack, so the bikes need to go in the SUV. He may be right that it can't happen but I want to know why we can't suspend the Sparrow from the ceiling. That suggestion was met with a definite no, but I read that as sounding like there is some wiggle room. ;)

We're heading out to breakfast and I'm going to talk up the virtues of the Sparrow, see if that results in any movement on the 'definite no'.

I am immune to your insults! Monikers like this "Chucky wucky the big fat ducky", hurled at me by my "loving" siblings have created a thickened hide impervious to the insults of mere mortals.
Only the Gods can get at me.

We are staying in the city, in Nob Hill. I thought about Mt Hamilton but it's kinda far. I will be limited to BART or just riding the bike. Ideal rides should be able to start early like 8AM and be back by noon for family obligations.

ERO loves short cranks. They wanted me to try 155s for pursuit. It seems that Team New Zealand (trackies) showed up at VSC with 155 cranks for aero testing. Shorter cranks increase the pedal force for the same amount of torque. So on flatter sections of road, one could spin the shorter cranks faster with a lower gear and open the hip angle to make breathing easier. However, climbing may be a different story since climbing requires more torque hence more force for the same power.

Good stuff.

only someone with a high SQ (snark quotient) would pick up on that.

send your complaints to Mike Hunt.

Just get a bike rack.

Rides from Woodside to the coast would take too much time. Check out Marin Cyclists Club - Home. They may have some routes that you can access from the city. Of course, you can take a train from the city and start riding in Palo Alto. There are several rides around that area and you could climb Old La Honda and not go to the coast.

Nice. You were lucky. You should start a thread.

I carry an energy bar and two Clif Shots in my suit jacket. It would suck to bonk at work. On busier days, I bring an extra Gatorade.

Amen

It is my understanding that in my case, hip angle is not the primary consideration, that would be more important for people spending long periods of time in aero position. For me, the shorter cranks are to improve my knee angle at the top of my pedal stroke. My knee comes up a little too high with the 170mm cranks, I wind up with a dead spot at the top of my pedal stroke.

Mr H is modifying a cargo rack to carry up to 3 bikes (plus also maintain its original purpose of carrying the gennaker, an extra sail for the boat). This involves some kind of welding project that is not finished yet. Because I said I was only taking one bike up to Big Bear. A little context as to why my suddenly wanting to bring the Sparrowmis being perceived as exasperating. :)

If cycling doesn't occasionally exasperate your spouse, you're doing it wrong.