Ride Entry – 30th August 2010
by admin on Aug.30, 2010, under Uncategorized
Bike: Chameleon
Distance: 39 miles
Last mountain bike ride before Keilder. This was the last bug out point for my back. Luckily everything seemed to go reasonably well with me and the bike. I’ve actually had to transplant my handjob wheel across because the hub on the original wheel has died (again), this time I dunno what it is at the moment. The chain tug is pressing the bearing cover/axle end piece against the freehub bearings so hard it doesn’t allow the freehub to turn, this is with a new freehub in. Can’t see where the problem is or what is different but after a few hours trying to work it out yesterday I’ve given up. This wheel works fine with the SS kit on it.
Anyway, today was a race trim ride. No camelbak, no camera, GPS or other non-essentials. Just a saddle bag with tubes and tools in, my pump in my back pocket and no coat. For the actual race I’ll fix my pump to the frame and use a bungee cord to attach my coat to the seatpost.
My legs and the bike were fine, could have ridden for days. my back though, 
. I stretched every half hour or so, stretched when I was rolling along and tried to be gentle but it just felt stiffer and stiffer as time went on. Not actually painful, just stiff. It’s really pissing me off. Thinking back I know of 4 races where I’ve given up because of my back, I really should get a professional to look at it I think.
Too late for Keilder though. I’ll do the race, take it nice and easy, carry a lot of painkillers and just try and finish. Really pisses me off because I’m confident my fitness is high enough to make me reasonably competitive, I was churning up the hills today and was barely out of breath at the top of them, even the lead mine clough climb was a cinch. Bah!
August 30th, 2010 on 4:02 pm
the end cap shouldn’t press the bearings as it’s designed to press against the axle only, so there’s no sideload on the bearing.
did you put the wrong spacer inside the freehub? although as you’ve been riding it that seems unlikely…
August 30th, 2010 on 4:39 pm
Give up mtbing, will help solve your back issues.
August 31st, 2010 on 7:18 am
You doing it SS then? ouch.
I wanted to drop the camelbak too but bike only has 1 bottle boss and I don’t fancy the 15-25miles between water stations on 1 bottle of water.
August 31st, 2010 on 7:50 am
I did it with gears last years and they broke.
Only one bottle for me too but most of the route is forrested, even if it gets really hot (and how likely is that?), I’ll not be using more than a bottle every 15-25 miles and I’ll be leaving a bottle of lucazade sport at each food dropoff so I’ll drink those before I leave.
August 31st, 2010 on 8:03 am
I have hydration issues (im a sweaty bastard) plus its so long since I used bottles I’d keep forgetting to drink.
August 31st, 2010 on 8:16 am
Matt, the brand new freehub seemed (to me), to sit a lot further out than the old one, maybe that’s the issue. Would I normall be expected to be able to see the splines nearest to the hub. You know where the splines step out and get wider? I can see those and the freehub presses against them but doesn’t cover them up…..
August 31st, 2010 on 4:50 pm
Good luck Jon, I reckon you’ll crack it this year. Fwiw, I bonked near the end last year and managed to run out of water. Not good.
September 2nd, 2010 on 7:05 am
Just been re-reading the rider info – it says no liquids in the drop bags.
September 2nd, 2010 on 7:33 am
Yep, coincidentally I’ve just been doing the same. Bummer. Still, it’s never more than about 18 miles between stations and I can always drink half a bottle or at least drink the bottle empty at the station and then top it up.
It’s Kielder, the place is just one big lake. Water everywhere.
It’ll be fine.
September 2nd, 2010 on 7:38 am
Some people have been questioning if there’ll be any grub left at the stations for the slower riders, got me worried now. Mind you it’ll be the slower riders who eat the most I bet so aslong as I stay ahead of the larger riders I should be OK
September 2nd, 2010 on 8:01 am
lol! I’ll provide my own food at the stations and carry some sweets as an emergency. Last year the food was being hovered up pretty quickly by the guys at the front. I was glad I had my own bags. Just a banana, some flapjack and maybe a mars bar to take away with me.