Making an Adjustment

When I was out on a ride with a local group Thursday night I had a shifting problem. I could not shift into my large chain ring. I had to resort to reaching down and pulling on the cable that runs from the shifter to the derailieur.

Upon my return home I realized the cable was pretty loose and no doubt from me pulling on it. So I set out tightening it on my own and am happy to report I was able to fix it. During my subsequent rides it shifted flawlessly.

This was a simple fix. I would have normally taken the bike into the LBS for this kind of repair but after taking a bike maintenance class I was confident in my abilities to make this adjustment on my own. Yippee!

Coincidental Meetings

My husband and I recently joined a Meet Up group in Portland. The group gathers to dine at various restaurants in the Greater Portland area. Last night was the first event we attended and it was dinner at Caiola’s.

We chatted a bit before ordering and I started to hear a bit of conversation to my right that involved something about rain and drying out last weekend. So I turned my attention to that end of the table and realized that one of the participants, Tom, had participated in the Trek last weekend. So we started chatting about the Trek and biking in general.

As the evening wore on I discovered that another woman at the table was also a cyclist, along with another man by the name of Michael, who looked really familiar and it turns out he’s been on some of the rides I’ve been on in the past.

Eventually the conversation turned to where people lived. When we told the group where our home was, Tom announced that he was our neighbor and thought we looked familiar. He actually lives in a home that we looked at before we purchased our current home. I also knew he was a cyclist from a brief conversation I had had with him on the street when I was headed out for an early spring training ride a while back.

We all had a chuckle at the fact that we met our neighbor at such an event! What were the odds? And once again, my cycling life collides with other aspects of my life. You could almost say that cycling allows me to be connected to so many different people from so many walks of life – people I/we probably wouldn’t be connected to otherwise if it wasn’t for cycling.

I’m not one for taking photos of my meals when I go out but I ordered the figs as an appetizer and the presentation was just so charming I wanted to capture it for my blog:

It was really yummy! I love fresh figs and pair them with gorganzola and I’m a very happy diner!

Trek Across Maine – Day 3

We were not surprised to wake to wet roads yet again. Breakfast opened early at 5:30 and the hall was quite busy at that hour. I think most people were anxious to get the last day over and get home.

After picking up the bikes and meeting up with friends I threw my leg over the bike to clip in and realized that my crank was spinning freely and not engaging the wheel/cassette. I wasn’t going anywhere.

I urged my friends to go ahead without me as I got in line for a mechanic, who told me I was done. He wasn’t able to help me. There was another mechanic on site but he only had a spare 9-speed wheel and not a 10-speed wheel so that wasn’t going to help either.

My only option was to hop a sag wagon to the first rest stop to receive help there. I can’t believe how disappointed I felt not being able to ride. My heart sank even more after passing a couple friends. I received a text from another friend who said that Jamie of Gorham Bike and Ski was at the first rest stop. I felt a little relief but also knew that if he couldn’t help me it would probably mean a sag ride all the way into Belfast.

To my glee, Jamie had a 10-speed wheel for me to borrow to get me to Belfast. After it was installed I rode off with a couple other friends I had met there (the ones I passed in the sag wagon). Unfortunately I just didn’t have the legs to keep up with them. They had already ridden 15 miles so they were much more warmed up that I was after having sitting in the back of a club cab for 15 miles. I finally told them to go ahead without me. With a 20 mph head wind I couldn’t continue to catch up to them after being dropped on a few of the climbs.

At the second rest stop I met up with the friends that I parted with at the beginning of the day. We rode mostly together from there to Belfast and crossed the line together.

My husband was there to meet us. After a quick bite to eat at the BBQ we were on the road back home.

Even with all the rain and gray skies, the Trek is one of my favorite biking events. I signed up for next year’s Trek on May 28th, before this year’s Trek even took place. Hopefully we’ll have better weather in 2010.

What Does Getting Dropped Sound Like?

Been there; done that!

Trek Video

Please forgive the typo at the end – next year’s event is 2010 not 2001.

This year’s event was the 25th anniversary with 2000 riders, 600 volunteers and over $1.6 million raised! Thank you to those who pledged and participated.

Trek Across Maine – Day 2

June 20th, 2009: Day 2 started out wet. As we walked to drop off our luggage and pick up our bikes it starte to rain. Luckily it didn’t last long. Still, the roads were wet, which meant eventually we would be a little wet just from the tire spray.

Right before we departed, I caught a glimps of blue sky. A ray of hope that didn’t amount to much.

Not only were the roads wet but we hit a fair bit of heavy drizzle off and on. I wasn’t thinking and had my feet in the 6 and 12 position at one point when coasting, which caused the spray from my front tire to soak my shoe, and then eventually my foot. Stupid move!

As was the case with the last two years, it took me a long time to get my legs back from the day before. I’m not sure why that is but it’s always been the case.

I started out with a friend and a couple of his friends and eventually had to tell them to forge ahead without me – I just didn’t have it to hang on. Eventually though a small train of 3 guys came by and I snatched onto a wheel. My friend Tracey decided after a while that getting a facefull of spray from a wheel in front of her was not how she wanted to spend her day and fell off the back.

We ended up picking up another guy from the Greater Portland area and we rode together all the way to the first rest stop. (Later I found out that they were all from Portland.)

Along the way my chain was not cooperating and new I needed to have that extra link taken out from my repair a couple weeks ago. I told some other friends not to wait for me and I’d see them at the next rest stop. I actually didn’t find them at the next one and it was only a few miles more to the last one so I forged on and ended up meeting up with them there.

I have to say that I enjoyed that part of the day very much. It was just me riding tempo for several miles. I didn’t have to worry about anyone else and just rode my bike at my own pace. My only regret was that I didn’t have my iPod to keep me company, which of course are not allowed.

At one point I went by a guy with a blue and yellow Aegis. I also passed him the day before and told him, “Nice bike” so I said it to him again. As I pulled to the front he replied, “nice legs.” I had to laugh. It was the best reply I had heard in a long time. I wondered after if he was referring to my blue knee warmers.

After meeting up with my friends at the last rest stop we rode together to the finish at Colby College. I pulled for most of the way out of choice. I needed the workout and the legs finally felt good.

During this Trek I also focused on my nutrition by making sure I was taking in enough shot bloks and gels on a regular basis, along with electrolytes, to ward off the cramps. It seemed to work because I didn’t have one cramp the entire time. It also wasn’t scortching hot so my salt loss was a lot less than other times. Still, I’ll continue with this type of regimen to see if it continues to make a difference.

Trek across Maine – Day 1

This will be a quick update. Today was the first day of the trek and if you aren’t following me on twitter then you don’t know that it rained all day. However, once I got wet and used to the wet roads I was fine. Both my friend, Tracey, and I agreed that it wasn’t as miserable as we anticipate. I just rode tempo with a nice average mile per hour for a rainy day. That was primarily a solo effort as there weren’t many that went by me to use as a draft. InsteAd I found myself passing most riders. We got a late start and I think most of the seasoned and faster riders started much earlier.

After being wet on the bike for 65 miles the shower didn’t even feel good- I was wet and just wanted to be dry for a while.

Off to dinner soon then meeting up with some classmates at a local pub. (I grew up not far from Farmington, the first stopping town for the Trek, and some classmates are still in the area. Good time to catch up with them!)

Busy Week with a Cycling Finish

It’s been a very hectic week thus far. Not only is it crazy busy at work but I’m also preparing to depart for the Trek Across Maine, which is a 180-mile bike ride over three days from Sunday River Ski Resort in the western mountains to the coastal town of Belfast, Maine.

I’ve managed a couple rides in over the past couple days, which has only put me behind in my packing and preparations. I like to lay everything out to make sure I have what I need then pack them all up. Unfortunately the weather is looking dreary with chances of rain for all three days so my clothing choices will have to be adjusted.

The bright side, literally and figuratively, to my trip is that I’m biking with a few friends to Sunday River from our home town of Portland. That will be a nice 80-mile warmup for the miles to come.

If you were considering donating to this worthy cause, you can still do so by clicking HERE. Last year we raised over 1 million dollars for the American Lung Association.

I participate in this event in honor of my father. Even though he died of heart disease, his health problems started from smoking. My father had his first heart attack at 36, a quin-bypass at 38, and dead at 49. I miss him every day, even though he has been gone almost 17 years. So cycling keeps me healthy in addition to raising money to hopefully prevent others from the same fate as my father. But the American Lung Associate is more than just smoking prevention. They are also fighting for clean air. That’s something we ALL benefit from!

I might not be posting much on the blog until I return but you can follow me on Twitter, if you are so inclined.

Bike Maintenance – Another Aspect of Cycling

One aspect of cycling that many of us cyclists don’t deal with is bike maintenance.

I’m not referring to the ordinary cleaning, lubing, break pad changing. I’m referring to the real nitty gritty of bike maintenance such as cassette/chain changing, crank changing, deraileur adjustments, cable adjustments/changing, etc.

I’ve always been impressed when I heard of someone building up a bike themselves. Not taking it to a shop, but actually putting in the labor themselves to create their very own bike.

So I had an opportunity to dabble in this today. The class was called Introduction to Brakes and Gear Adjustments. The instructor, Erik, preferred the students to come with a project to work on with your own bike. Well, I definitely had a good project: I wanted to bring in both my bikes, take the 12/25 cassette off the Scott and put it on the Aegis with a new chain and then put a new 12/27 cassette on the Scott.

I arrived to find that there were two of us in class. I did expect to be more and I hope there are more that take Erik’s class in the future, because it is well worth every penny!

The class started with an explanation of components and how they work. Then it was on to the hands on projects. I managed to complete my project in the time that was alotted for the class. Now I’ll have to go out and test the bikes to see if I like how they turned out. I might have to actually take out another link in the new chain on the Aegis. We erred on the side of leaving it a tad longer and it will require some testing of the bike to make sure it’s okay as is. But I know that’s easy enough to do on my own.

I had asked about instruction on wheel truing, another important aspect of bike maintenance. Erik informed me that others had asked about that type of class as well and he thought he might put together a separate class for that. He was happy to show me how to do it, as opposed to actually doing it. But I chose to tell him I’d be interested in taking the truing class – a detailed and hands on instruction was better than if he had just explained it in the short amount of time we had.

I hope you are able to find such a class like this in your area. If you are in the Greater Portland or Mid Coast areas of Maine, I highly recommend taking Erik’s classes. They are very informative and I guarantee you will get a lot of knowledge from them.

There is still so much more to learn about maintaining my bikes but at least I received a decent start today. I know that when my spare set of wheels come in, I’ll be able to put on a cassette and have them ready to use. Pretty cool!

If you are inclined to attempt some bike maintenance on your own, Erik recommends this book for your repairs:

It’s the Park Tool’s Big Blue Book of Repair. This book seemed to have a lot of good information with some great pictures to help guide you through your repairs.

Lake Auburn Road Race Recap

I was pretty excited about a race so close to home. Instead of driving 2+ hours to a race, there was a nice one in my “back yard” of Auburn, Maine, only 45 minutes away.

The pre-race jitters started 24 hours before the race. My stomach was doing flops all day Friday and into the morning of the race. The only time they really settled down was when I got on the bike to warm up.

As soon as I had arrived I realized I had forgotten to pack my race license. I’ll tell ya, it seems like it’s always something before every race. Luckily they let me check in anyway – probably helped that I had registered on line.

I seemed to stand in line forever for the porta-potty. Two were just not enough!

Then with shaking hands I fumbled with pinning on my race number. Better to have it on early then to try getting it on right before. 

 
Ready to start warming up.
 

Finally I got on the bike to warm up. I went the opposite way of the route to avoid some of the climbs at first, to give me a better chance to warm up. Then it was time to turn around and do a little climbing, especially the big climb that the race starts with.

Chatting with a friend before the start.

The length of the route was 11.5 miles and the women raced 3 laps. After a downhill, followed by an uphill, the first half of the course is pretty flat and the second have has mostly rollers with a few short, steeper second. The finish is a falls flat that lends itself to a sprint finish.

I’m always pensive descending in a large group so it’s no wonder I was pretty much dropped on the downhill but they slowed approaching the steepest climb. Of course I was completely dropped on that first climb. I could see  a group way ahead when I got onto the flat section and had to work my tail off to catch back up. (Those time trial events are paying off!) I was happy to find that three of the 4 racers I caught were teammates. 

Once I had a chance to recover we all worked together, with two other racers, pacelining through the first two laps. Along the second lap we thought it would be interesting to try some team tactics to try to drop the other girls. They seemed to be growing tired and it would be better to drop them now and not have them stealing a better place finish from one of us.

The team working together.

Our first casualty was a teammate. We saw she hadn’t hung on with us over the climb to the start of the third lap. We decided not to wait for her, knowing that she wouldn’t want us to. (After the race we found out we made the right call.)

Then we tried to drill the pace a bit to drop the other riders. On our first try it worked well but then our pace eased up a bit and they were able to catch back on. It also didn’t help when I started getting cramps in my calves due to the effort.

So then we tried to sit back without pulling through to see if we could tire them. Upon another surge by a teammate, I got dropped. I was able to get back on but unfortunately I brought the other riders with me.

Then 1 1/2 miles from the finish my left calf seized! At the top of the first of the two-step climb I had to dismount the bike to stretch it out or I wouldn’t be able to finish the final climbs. I saw my teammates and the two other girls ride off without me and I couldn’t do anything about it. 

After a brief stretch I got back on the bike and prayed it was enough of a stretch to get me to the finish. It was.

I crested the last climb and had sight of the final 1+ kilometer. I buried my head, anchored my hands in the drops and dug deep. I looked up and saw a rider in front of me and dug again. When I looked up again, I was closing the gap. So I kept on digging to close the gap and actually passed that rider right before the line.

After the race she said she had no idea I was even there.

I finished the race 11th out of 16. My teammates finished 8th and 9th and I know I would have also finished in the top 10 if it hadn’t been for my cramp. 

It was a fun race and I had a blast. It was especially liked trying to work some team tactics, even if they didn’t stick. I hope to be back again next year!