Yesterday didn’t go too well. Actually, it wasn’t really that bad. The result, or more accurately, the non-result was pretty depressing, but I had a pretty good day all around really.
I’m staying with some friends, Rod and Charlene Lake, who live south of White Rock Lake in Dallas. I slept pretty great, their guest room is nearly a cave, and then Charlene made an incredible breakfast of eggs, pancakes, fruit, etc.
After that, I looked at the weather and realized I only had a couple hours to ride before it starting raining. So I jumped on my bike and rode 30 miles. I was just trying to get the cobwebs out from not riding for 2 days.
I got a little behind and didn’t leave for the race until after 2 and the course was only open for warmup from 2:30-3. We were a little late and I got dressed fast and got out on the course. I was heading first into the woods section, which had a few steep hills that were nearly impossible to walk up because of the rain. Then I noticed my rear tire was flat. Shit. It was a FMB and I really didn’t want to get my other bike all muddy before the start.
So I really didn’t see all the course, but saw the general layout. I got the last callup, very last guy. This random thing isn’t working out so well for me this year so far. I wasn’t that worried since there were only 33 guys there and a long road hill for the start.
I passed a bunch of guys at the start and got up to 17th early in the first lap. Everyone was bobbling a bunch. It was super slick, way slicker than Jinglecross. Lots of clay I think. I passed a couple more guys and was feeling pretty good so far.
In the woods section I lost some places. I got the ribbon around my shifter on one hill and there was a big gap in front of me. Toward the end of the first lap, there were some u-turns and I slid out on one. I must have either bent my derailleur hanger or just clogged my pulleys up with mud and crud, because a few hundred meters later, my rear derailleur was ripped off. Not really ripped off, but pulled back enough to jettison a pulley and make it unusable.
I tried to get the chain to ride over the one pulley and keep riding, but no luck. I was so far away from a pit that it was useless to continue.
Pretty depressing really. It was a Di2 Ultegra derailleur. It very easily could have been a Dura-ace, which would have been worse.
So, I walked back to the pit, got Trudi and then headed to the bike wash. All the power sprayers were pretty busy, so I just put the bikes into my van and drove to a car wash.
I had brought a new Di2 Dura-ace derailleur with me, and a hanger, so I fixed them when I got back to Rod’s house. Other than that, my bikes were fine.
So, one down and one to go. It is supposed to rain all morning and clear by the race start which is 4 again. I hope to have a little better luck today. I think I was going okay, but I’m not really sure. I would really like a riding course, but that isn’t going to be the case today. I has to still be muddy over there. Probably worse since all the other classes are doing circles there all day.
Okay, that’s about it. Jamie Driscoll won the race, Allen Krughoff came back from an early first lap crash to finish 2nd just 35 seconds back. Pretty good race for him.
Lonely last rider.
Results. Click to enlarge.
Just after one lap. Pretty mucky.
Mangled rear mech.
Fixed.
Rod’s garage. Flying the colors.
you need a bike designed for mud.
Question on the rear mech.
When that Ultegra was installed, was it installed without replacing the chain? Was the procedure pretty much: 1- Remove old der by pulling off cage. 2- Install new derailleur, but do not cut chain. 3- Remove top pulley, feed chain on to cage. 4- Re-install top pulley.
Just wondering, kind of a game if you will.
Calvin – DId you mean when I installed the new Dura-ace derailleur did I break the chain? Or when I originally installed the Ultegra?
When I put on the Ultegra derailleur, I put on a new chain. When I changed the derailleur last night I just took off a pulley and installed the new derailleur. I don’t like having more than one pin in my chains, even though I think I intellectually know that there isn’t much difference, chance of failure, between one, two or three pins.
If it was a front derailleur, with a rivot and not a screw to separate the cage, then of course, I would have had to remove the chain.
Not sure the game you are playing.
You need a single speed, Steve!
I hate to see anyone’s race ruined by mechanical issues, but I’m starting to see why the bike industry so heavily hyped ‘cross as the MTB market peaked and declined. Wonder how many $150+ rear derailleurs are wrecked in muddy ‘cross races each season? Back-in-the-day most ‘cross bikes were equipped with low-level components since damage/destruction/wearing out was so prevalent, but things have certainly changed when competitors are using electronic shifting on bikes which see so much serious abuse. Just more to suggest cycling’s truly the “new golf”?
Hey Steve, glad to hear it was just a mechanical. I was back in the woods yesterday when I heard the announcer say you had DNF’d. Watching everyone crash all day in the woods had me thinking the worst.
Good luck this afternoon!
With your FMB flat, do you take the time to repair it, or do you just add sealant to plug the pin hole?….(or did you rip it)??
Yes, thanks. Seen that before. Not a real game, just my own guessing game I guess. I agree on not popping extra connector rivets into the Shimano chain. But when the rear derailleurs fails as described here, the common cause is the pulley bolt fell out, and the reason there is because it was not tight.
Blue Locktite on those pulley screws.
buying new parts every week… that’s why I quit racing cx.
When the mud is serious, my barcon 7 speed and single speed bikes come out. Can’t tear off a rear derailleur if you don’t have one.