Equipment - End of Season Maintenance

Not to be confused with "Beginning of Season Maintenance", naturally.

The end of each season sees the normal wear and tear on the bike, the stuff that you think, "Well, it should be okay next week". My thought process usually goes a bit more like, "Well, I'll replace that part next week".

In Maine I don't think I mentioned it in the post but right before I left for the last Kingman Loop I switched out the cleats. It's one thing to break a cleat at home, no more than about 20 minutes away from home base, with so little elevation changes that it takes me 40 hours of riding to climb the same amount as 8 hours of "flat" riding in Maine.

It's another thing to break a cleat in a place where I may not have a cell signal, there aren't any bike shops around, and where I may be a couple hours ride away from home base. Even if I had a signal it may be that the calvary, i.e. any potential help, may not have a signal.

Finally there's the off chance that I run into some wolf or something, even get bitten by a couple of dogs.

With these factors in mind I felt it prudent to swap out the cleats. I didn't know when I'd last replaced the cleats but I thought it was in the spring. However, checking back on Strava, it seems that I replaced the cleats last June. Based on my Strava log I have about 200 hours on the cleats. This includes a bit more walking around than normal at some points, especially at Bethel, and a bit less than normal, like my trainer rides. Whatever, 200 hours is pretty good. I'm at 140+ hours for 2013 and I did 75 hours in 2012 on them after June 2012.

I also took the opportunity to twist the left cleat a touch. Usually I like my heel to miss the crank by about 10 mm. For whatever reason I had my heel a bit closer and I found myself twisting my foot outward all the time. This didn't do much for my clipped in confidence as I unclipped somewhat regularly. With short rides and races I kept forgetting about it, but in Maine, with lots of time, I thought about it a lot.

Therefore when I replaced the cleats I adjusted the left one. Of course I then had a really fast ride (for me) immediately after. No knee pain either, and I have really, really fragile knees.

I kick myself when I realize stuff like this.

I mean, I knew it before, but it didn't seem important enough to deal with it. When I finally deal with it I'd think, "Why didn't I do that earlier?"

Along those lines I switched out my cranks. My SRM battery died in July or something and I've been too lazy to fix it. First I needed to find my Cannondale SI crank tools, which I lent the shop when they faced the BB shell. Ends up I buried it in my gear bag so I'd never forget it. Next I needed to stage a new battery (I have it and I know where it is) and solder it in. Finally I wanted to make a decision on crank length.

This year I committed to the 170 cranks. In 2010, my best recent year, I was on 175s, and I was on them since 2004 (minus a break in 2008) after I dropped a friend and returning to racing road rider while on my 175mm crank mountain bike. I then went to do sprints with a 175 mm road crank and went 10 mph faster than my previous 170mm sprint. I wasn't in shape but I figured that some of that 10 mph had to have come from the longer cranks.

I wanted to try 170s again because in my heyday, back in the 80s and 90s, I rode 167.5s and I was literally 6-8 mph faster in my fastest sprints. I thought I could regain that speed by getting shorter cranks.

Unfortunately aging 20 years had something to do with my loss of speed, and 170s actually made me slower than the 175s. In similar circumstances (tailwind sprint on the same course) I was about 3 mph slower on the 170s. Also I haven't even gotten a whiff of those heyday type speeds while on the 170s.

Therefore I gave up on the 170s.

Instead of doing a new battery and stuff I just put the other SRM Cannondale SI cranks on, the ones from the black bike. The battery is good, I have a second head unit so no calibrating, and it has both the 175s and my best-so-far Keos, the Carbons.

BB axle looks fine

The two right side crank arms.

That's another thing. The Keo Max2 pedals feel really loose, like really loose. The Carbons, allegedly possessing the same retaining force, are much more decisive in their grasp of the cleat. I made the assumption that the Keo Max2s would have the same retaining power due to the same newton-meter rating, but alas the pedals easily give up the cleat.

So my overall changes are as follows:
1. New cleats on my shoes (and they didn't change the retention feel on the Keo Max2s).
2. 175mm crank arms, instead of 170mm. This involves dropping the saddle 5mm to keep the saddle-pedal distance consistent.
3. Second SRM spider with newer/working battery.

I approached my first ride on the 175s with some caution. Longer cranks means a bit more stress on the knees, not because of the higher leverage but because your leg closes more with a longer crank. It opens the same amount, based on the same saddle height, but your knee closes up more. This means more pressure on the knee cap at the top of the pedal stroke.

Well I got on the bike, did some spinning while deliberately not looking at the SRM headunit, and then peeked when things felt okay.

110 rpm.

Whoa.

I expected 90 rpm or lower, after coming from the 170s. Apparently I'm more used to the 175s, even after a season on the 170s.

For 15 minutes I averaged over 100 rpm on the 175s.

No knee twinges, no weird aches, nothing.

I geared up and slowed down my pedaling speed.

One concern with the 175s was that my legs would come up a bit more, a total of 1 cm, based on the fact that my saddle dropped 5mm but the cranks come up 5mm more as well. In my 2012 fitness levels, or even my early 2013 fitness level, I was basically too fat to ride the 175s without gut punching myself with my quads on each pedal stroke.

Now, at the end of 2013, having dropped 12-13 pounds since March, I can pedal the 175s fine.

If I can continue the trend and get down another 10 pounds or so, I'll be back at or close to my 2010 weight. That was a good year, and I hope to at least start 2014 in a similar fashion.

Training - Gimbels Ride (Regular)

On the major holidays we try and get down to my dad's place. He lives in the same house where we lived from the late 70s, when we moved back to the States. When I go there I actually stay in the same room that I had when I was a kid in high school, so it's kind of cool. Other than some maintenance type repairs (tree/yard stuff, applieances, stuff like that)) and one major addition (central air), the house is basically the same as it was back then.

We (the Missus and Junior) went down for the pre-July 4th weekend. With the thoughts of my recent racing failures in mind, and the fact that I wasn't absolute exhausted each evening, the Missus and I planned some training for me - the Gimbels ride.

The Gimbels ride is a huge group ride. It used to start at a Gimbels store somewhere in NY, but when a racer told me about it he told me to park in White Plains - they'd roll out for another 20-30 minutes and then the ride proper would start.

The pack at Gimbels July 1. I wasn't at the back either.

I have to admit that I haven't done the ride in a while. I definitely remember the fall of 2003, maybe September or October. It was still a bit warm, I was at my heaviest so about 215 lbs, and I got shelled on the roll out on 22.

This is kind of like getting dropped on the lap where the race announcer says, "Okay guys, we'll be a minute, take a lap okay?" and then I get shelled.

We were going about 14 or 15 mph and I couldn't hang - by the time we got to the classic car place I was done.

I turned around and rode back to the car.

A short time later I returned and made it to the 120 sprint (the first one) and got shelled after that.

I've been there since but I personally don't remember it. The Missus remembers me going though so I've been.

So it's been a while. I didn't know the current batch of riders. I didn't know the road conditions. I didn't know any other changes in the ride since those days many years ago.

On top of that we were going through a mini heatwave (it lasted at least 3 days so it's technically a heatwave I learned). The forecast called for temps in the upper 90s. I hate anything over about 82 (except in January in California) so I knew I'd be pushing my own limits with a 95+ degree forecast. In preparation I brought my two Podium Ice bottles, filled partially with ice (I only used one tray for the two bottles - I could have used one tray for each, but I didn't want to strip the house of ice cubes). I also brought two regular bottles for rinsing - they stayed in the trunk, no insulation, no cooler.

I got to the parking area a bit early, hoping that it hadn't changed in the meantime. The original parking area was the bowling alley lot but one weekend they started towing all the bike racers' cars so we started parking on the street a block away.

I got there early enough that I was one of two cars there. I got changed, got ready, and lo and behold some guys I know rolled up.

One is a long time racer Tom. He gave me some tips, the important ones, like the fact that the whole ride has come under scrutiny by law enforcement. Apparently the NY rules of running lights and stops is winding down - riders as recently as the day before were getting pulled over wholesale and ticketed.

He also told me about a closed bridge on the route, and that I'd need to take a left two lights later. He cautioned me on trying to use the sidewalk on the closed bridge - a slew of riders got ticketed there too.

I understand the need to do this and I'm okay with it, but it would definitely change the atmosphere of the ride.

Another guy Joe rolled up while Tom and I talked. Joe's the promoter (or co-promoter maybe) of the White Plains Crit. He's jumped through a lot of hoops to make this race happen this year and therefore I'm a big fan of his. He seemed much stronger than his license indicated and he chipped in with details on the various caution notes.

Tom's apparent teammate (they wore similar kits) Chris rolled up. He's a guy that as a kid I admired. He had all these really cool cars, really enjoyed them, and, most importantly, drove them the way they were meant to be driven. It's like showing up with a nice bike on a group ride and mixing it up at the front - that's what they were designed to do, not leaned up against a rail outside the local Starbucks.

Finally fellow promoter and former Cat 1 track racer Greg rolled up. He couldn't believe what he was seeing - me on a Gimbels again! When he asked how long it'd been since I'd been on the ride, I pointed out that there's this huge new Infiniti dealership on Central Ave.

"I think that was built in 2007 or so, and it was originally a motorcycle dealership."

I pointed out some other stuff that I noticed on the roll out. Greg decided it had to be at least 5-7 years since I'd last done the ride. He cautioned me on the law enforcement efforts, and, more immediately, told me to get out of the right gutter because there were some huge holes coming up.

I moved over and missed a crater by a few inches.

I started paying more attention to the road.

The group splits into Short Short, Short, and Long, but now it seems that riders call them Short, Regular or Medium, and Long. Short Short is pretty short, Long involves some hills I couldn't make even when I was fit, so Regular it was.

When we split (Long went left, Regular went right), the Regular group, numbering about 50 or 60, immediately started to string out. I didn't think anything would happen right away so I just surfed wheels at the back. We rolled down a slight decline when the light in front turned yellow. 15 or so riders sprinted through, past a police car with its lights flashing.

The rest of us stopped. We'd never see that front group again.

Reduced to about 30 or 40 riders we continued.

The Regular ride is kind of like a B race, with most of the riders being either 4s or 5s in pack riding experience. A few riders are experienced 3s (like me), just unable to get over the hills on the Long ride. Others are old timers that might have been 2s or 3s back in the day but now are leisurely 3s or 4s.

What this means is that the ride isn't quite as tight as a Cat 3 race, and, notably, there are riders who are extremely nervous in the group. I noticed one guy who hung out off to the side, in the wind, maybe 3 feet from the closest rider. It's better to go Long because the riders are all pretty good in the field; on the Regular route it was maybe 1/3 of the riders not so good, 1/3 fine, and 1/3 as good as anyone on Long.

Other guys were slipping through tiny gaps, getting good position before the choke points of the course, corners or tight roads or whatever.

At some point Mr Nervous, the guy hanging out on the side, reached out to caution the rider to his left that he was there. I think I must have been a bit frustrated with Mr Nervous's fear of the group because I told the guy he touched to ignore the guy because he had plenty of room.

I rolled up the other side of Mr Nervous to get away from him. He had all sorts of warning signs - unsure in the group but "knowledgeable" enough to reach out to touch a hip (that was pretty far away); riding on the hoods when nervous; strong enough not to have any kind of negative conditioning potential (meaning he wouldn't get shelled based on his poor riding so he'll be around, dangerous, later in the ride).

It happened to be near the 120 sprint. I really came to the ride just for the 120 sprint - I wasn't sure if I could make it further, plus all the law enforcement stuff happened shortly after the sprint.

Therefore I wanted to be in good position for the sprint, i.e. near the front, maybe 10 back when I jumped.

Problem was that the group started to split up about a mile before the sprint. First one group of 6 or 8 escaped, gaining maybe 75 meters, then a second group of 8 rolled away, just by 10 or 20 meters. The third group, where I sat, didn't seem intent on closing up quickly - I got ready to take the initiative.

I rolled hard up to the second group just as a guy there started a surge. Slotting in third wheel I tried to figure out how late I could leave it and still pass the guys which, at that point, were about 50 meters up the road.

Vinnie, another veteran of the ride, on his first helmet cam ride in fact, pulled through unhurriedly. I don't think he was contesting the sprint but I wanted to get in my jump and follow through, so when we got to within 20 meters of the front group, with not much room left for the sprint (it was probably in the last 200 meters), I jumped hard.

I got about 3 pedal strokes into my sprint when BANG I slammed into the bike. My chain derailled over the large ring, my right foot unclipped, and I had to pull myself off my bars.

The heck happened. I don't know. I just put on new cleats, a few rides ago, and my Keo Carbons are pretty much maxed out on tension. The big ring is new so that's a non-factor. I have to check my chainline in the bigger gears; I also suspect that my pedal bodies are worn out, allowing too much movement in the cleats.

Whatever, I clipped back in as Vinnie rolled by unconcerned. Pedaling a bit harder I caught up to Vinnie.

"Good work staying upright."

Yeah, but ideally I wouldn't have to worry about unclipping or having a chain fall off.

The heat, the effort, and my disappointment in myself got to me. On the next rise I moved to the right and eased, allowing everyone to roll past me.

I went through the heavily patrolled bits of the route, finished the ride, and rode on towards the intersection where riders hang out after the loop. Only one guy sat there, the rest choosing to head home. A long while later just 7 riders rolled up.

Incredibly Joe was there, as well as some other guys I knew. They got some cold drinks, stretched out their legs, and we all headed back to White Plains.

On the way back I suddenly got lightheaded so I ate a GU, the first thing I'd eaten since 8 AM. I was out of water - the Podium Ice had kept the water cool until I drank it all, but two bottles for that ride, in that heat, it wasn't enough. 

When I got back to the car it'd been 3 hours since I left.

The bottles in the trunk seemed surprisingly cool, and after a short rinse of the head/face, I felt a lot better. I cranked the AC, got changed, and headed out.

The thermometer read 97 degrees as soon as I got going. I felt that long distant but familiar fatigued feeling, a cumulative one from the heat, the legs, and the stress of doing the ride. The hot car, the bright sun, my starting to bonk, it all seemed appropriate. It felt like I'd returned home.

I may not do the ride often going forward. In other words I'm not figuring out ways to get down there to do the ride right now. It seems just a bit more chaotic than I want, with conditions not quite as nice as I remember. Nonetheless the ride brought back memories of my "pro" cycling days, when I worried only about cycling. I saw some of the same faces, went around the same loop, and found, to my surprise, that I could move around like I did before.

I do pine for the days where I scampered up the short hills without too much trouble, where I had a chance of finishing the Long ride in the group. I wished for some more spring in my legs, a bit more staying power, a bit more speed, a bit less stomach. I guess, though, that this is what life is like. Getting older, getting slower.

As I merged the car onto 287, I knew I was driving back to my dad's place, where the Missus and Junior were hanging out. I'd end up napping (as the Missus predicted) but then hanging out with family. My cycling may be on a decline but it's all good.

Life goes on.

Equipment - Maintenance (Cleats)

This isn't about how to maintain your cleats. There isn't much to that part of stuff... okay, this means that the first part of the post will be about cleat maintenance.

So... when I install cleats, usually a replacement pair on shoes that already have cleats, I do the following:

1. Mark the cleat position.
2. Clear out the fasteners (allen head or screw fitting).
3. Remove old cleat.
4. Put anti-seize on the new screws (or the old ones if I'm reusing them for some reason, very unlikely).
5. Put all the screws on lightly.
6. After checking alignment tighten all screws up to spec.
7. Note, for Look Keo cleats don't go bonkers on the screws - the cleats will crack if you overtighten them. What's overtightening them? It's when you tighten them until they crack.
8. Do a sanity check and put the shoe on and clip in. You don't want to find out that the cleat isn't in the right place 5 minutes before a race.
9. Oh, I forgot to mention - don't do this 5 minutes before a race.

What I really wanted to mention is that you should check your cleats and replace them if you think you're getting even a little close to wearing them thin enough to break. I checked my cleats last week at the Nutmeg State Games and thought, oh, these are fine, I'll replace them in the next month or so.

I figured I'd replace them the next time I was on the trainer in the basement - it happens to be where most of my spare cleats reside (one set in the auxiliary gear bag upstairs, but the other four or so sets are in the basement, including a couple pair in my main gear bag).

The problem was that I didn't know what to look for and therefore I never really checked them. Unfortunately I found out the hard way that my cleats really did need replacing. I looked at them a bit more carefully and found what I didn't know before.

 From left: broken, worn, new. Below, just sitting on the shoe, is another new cleat.

If you look carefully at the two worn ones you can see the white stuff (kind of a slippery plastic, I guess for easier clipping out) has two pins going into the grey bit of plastic. You can see the white dots in the grey area of the worn cleats, just behind (or below in the picture above) the rear screws.

This picture shows that the white dots are recessed when the cleat is not worn.

In this shot it's easier to see that the worn cleat's white dots are even with the surface of the cleat. The red cleat's white dots are recessed. The newer grey cleat, with some extra protection on the bottom, doesn't even have visible white dots.

So now I know. Look for the white dots on your Keo cleats - if you see them replace the cleat. I didn't know until today and I was lucky that nothing happened - a full throttle sprint, a hard shift up, and bing, the cleat went.

I couldn't put much pressure on the pedals - at about 110-120 watts my right foot would just pop free.

Obviously I'll be replacing the cleats before my next ride.

My punishment for letting my equipment go? A half mile climb at about 250 watts using basically just my left leg while seated. A good workout, okay, but for a bad reason.