New Stuff!

Friday night I stripped the bike almost down to the frame and replaced the bottom bracket, chain rings, chain anc cassette. Turns out I need a freehub thanks to the cassette digging into it and the chain rings were unplanned, but severely needed.

Good thing I didn't try those repars at home: the drive-side bearings had rusted to the crank spindle and it took me over an hour to wiggle it off; millimeters at a time. Sucky. So was the Thai food from the local place on campus. Blecch!

Sunday, Luke, Allison and I hit up San Juan trail...in the pouring rain and mud. What better way to break in the new drivetrain? We had a much longer route, but pulled the plug before even reaching the top of San Juan...just too f-ing COLD. the descent was nearly unbearable: I kept having to stop and relieve myself thanks to the cold and let my hands warm up enough that I could tell how hard I was pulling the break levers.

My new drivetrain was ghost-shifting on me, which really pissed me off. When I got home and cleaned it, I could clearly see the derailleur pulleys were so worn that they were no longer doing their job of keeping the chain where it should be. The result was the chain rubbing on the derailleur cage and ghost-shifting at high chain angles. It's always something.

Today, I started a recovery week. The Base work is DONE and it's time to let my body rest up for the intensity to come in the Build phases. I took my first day off since November...it rocked.

If you look to the right, you'll see I picked up MY FIRST sponsor ever. I've rocked Rudy project stuff for years and I'm stoked to represent their products.

Sweet.

E.