It turns out I have no mechanical sympathy

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w00hoo_kent

One of the 64K
On the 'to do before Ride London' list was an imperial 100 day. I figure if I've done one, doing another one will be easier. I plotted a route from Maidstone down to Hastings, across Romney Marshes, skirting Canterbury, saying hello to Hollingbourne and then back to Maidstone which came out at about 110 miles and 4800ft of climbing, across the South Downs, 35 miles of flat and then across the North Downs, pretty much exactly the opposite profile of Ride London, but I can't help living in the slopey bit.

The idea was to leave at 07:20 Saturday morning, mirroring my 07:20 wave time for the ride. As is I faffed around like a faffing thing on Saturday morning I was finally rolling a wheel at 08:20. The roads were slightly damp from overnight rain, and it was cold enough for arm warmers, but aside from that looking good and the Norwegians had said the weather was going to be near perfect, warming up through the day with almost no wind.

The warm up for the ride was a gentle climb out of the Medway Valley followed by a fast spin down the escarpment to the Weald and then on to the lanes following the Garmin up and down some starter hills before the South Downs arrived. By Hawkhurst I'd been riding a little over an hour and covered 16 miles having climbed 867ft according to all the data tools. Leaving the crossroads on the A229, Highgate Hill, there was a good layer of recent but not fresh tarmac, perfect for building up speed before the next climb, passing the old Toll House I hit a small depression that was tough to see and the whole bike shook underneath me, I'd been in the saddle and taken the hit with my body as well as the bike and it was a harsh one, I wasn't sure how I'd missed such a serious pothole, but the road was now going up again so I dropped gears and got on with it.

Carrying on out through Sedlescombe and the first of the two bigger ascents of the South Downs started, I was feeling the climbs, and could see that the back wheel was a bit out of true when I looked down towards the cranks, but I was much more focussed on getting up and over the hill than on anything else. On to the A21 and the bigger hill comes in to view, I'm now following another cyclist, we're relatively even for pace, he is covering the flat a bit quicker than me but I catch up to about 15 cycle lengths on the hills, I climb on the saddle, he is up on the pedals immediately and we match pace up the slow three mile climb towards Hastings. At one point the Garmin decides to detour me slightly off of the A21 for maybe a third of a mile on what feels like an even steeper hill which I take in my stride (if 'taking in my stride' can also be defined as 'making desperate squeaking noises like a nearly departed vole'). I swear profusely at the Garmin as it puts me back on the A21 and the other cyclist is nowhere to be seen. I overtake him while he is checking his own computer on the outskirts of Hastings and look at the large hill to my left, hoping the Garmin will avoid it.

A sharp turn left puts me on to Fairlight Road and I start climbing to the highest point of the ride so far, although thanks to some flat I've recovered some strength and it's not as tough as some of the previous hills have been. I am watching my average speed tumble though, and know that I am running on a dangerously empty tank, so decide as it's been a little over 2 hours on the road I'd pull over and actually get off the bike at the next crest. Hastings Country Park picnic site comes in to view and I gratefully pull across in to it, cursing the designers a little when I see every bench is at least 10 metres in to the grass. Hopping from the bike I select a handy tree right next to the tarmac and go to push it there when it stops dead. Looking down I see that my 'slight buckle' may have been an underestimate. 2417ft climbed at that point.

Without mechanical assistance the wheel would prefer to skid along than turn past the buckle which is tight to the left hand chain stay. A closer look at the tyre shows that around 25% of the circumference is rubbing, with around 6 inches 'tight' to the stay. In the middle of the buckle is a broken spoke, almost directly opposite the previous spoke to go on the wheel (easy to see as it was replaces with a silver nipple, not a black one). I know I'm not going to be able to fix the bike sufficiently to ride another 80 miles so I get the phone out and let my wife know that I'm stopping with a mechanical and she has won a round trip to Hastings. I then add my waterproof for a little warmth, find a bench and start munching on an energy bar.

Back home, the tyre sidewall, on a Durano Plus I'd fitted brand new the night before, is paper thin. I've ordered another and it'll do as an emergency 'I've ordered another tyre but need *something*" tyre but I wouldn't trust it day to day. The left hand chain stay is rubbed to the paint and nicely polished, I have some touch up paint for the Croix which is also black so will paint it over. Checked the frame and there were no signs of cracks (it's a Synapse, so Alloy frame.) no tell tale paint flakes or unexpected bumps. So I think I got away with that. The bike shop have the wheel, dropped off Saturday, fixed for today and have agreed to replace the OE Lugano which I'd taken off because the ply had come apart within the flat of the tread, which is nice.

We'd stopped by the spot on the way home and the depression is innocuous, you can spot it by a slight darkening of the tarmac and it's in the line for a cycle to take the corner, but a bit out for cars. When a car did hit it the noise of the wheels dropping was very obvious and quite severe. We took video. What seems to have happened is they have laid new tarmac on to the road without properly fixing the damage below it and the depression I hit is a bit of subsidence. Google Streetview shows the road before the work was done and damage to the surface can be seen in the spot that the hole now exists.

I know I should have stopped and checked the bike, I put this down to me being slightly mental and having a serious problem with stopping on the bike, I can't believe I didn't realise the tyre was rubbing, and put the noises down to the crank (which does need some grease). It does suggest my climbing isn't quite as terrible as I thought it was, having done 14 miles with an extra rim brake, and I'm kind of thankful I'm on disks, rim brakes may well have locked the wheel with the level of buckle it has which would not have been nice and may have been an off there and then.

The ride is rescheduled for next Saturday, hopefully the weather will be as nice. It'll be on the new wheels which are ready for collection. I'll be trying extra hard to avoid pot holes this time round, and looking to better the 14.7 average, my tactic will be not climbing 1600ft with a brake on..
 
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fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Doh !!!!!
 

Rooster1

I was right about that saddle
Nightmare! Hope you get your bike sorted,.

I am also doing the Ride 100 and I have also had my fair share of mechanicals - bikes need constant TLC.
If this makes you feel slightly better, here are my recent and CURRENT mechanical issues.

- Broken Gear Cable,, last week, fixed (but I am missing the cable adjuster by the shifter - not good, will need to completely re-install.
- Chain - worn, replaced (by me), last week - I hope I did a good job.
- Cassette - worn, replaced (by me,) last week
- Gear Adjustment - front and rear, constant "jiggery pokery" required. Every day!
- Bottom Bracket - a little lateral play - could swap over to a spare but gonna leave it
- Front Brake Caliper - slightly loose, unable to tighten properly due to corrosion of long thread inside forks - will add some washers

Tyres, Good (in the dry)
Brakes, Good, (In the dry), issue as above
Wheels, Slight wobble in rear
Headset, good
Cables (as above)
Gears (as above)
Chain (as above)

Aside from that, should be fine!
 
OP
OP
w00hoo_kent

w00hoo_kent

One of the 64K
I'm partly working on the theory that buying a new bike has sorted a lot of the problems :-) . It'll have somewhere between 1000 and 1500 miles on the drivetrain by the event and almost all of that is in the dry. After a clipless drop on the right hand side the gears needed some faffing with, but I had them sorted before the pothole (then they started acting up again). Once more, I'm hoping to have that tuned in before the ride. It's booked in for its second service 6 days before the event and the new wheels and tyres will be on by the end of this week, giving me a little over a month to ride them in and be happy they should work. Oh, the bottom bracket needs greasing, but again I'm hoping that it'll be good for a while after that.

Then I just have to concentrate on not breaking it myself.
 
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