Missing Link

It was looking like this morning would be the last day of "springtime in January" for a little while.  It was already getting windy ahead of a second cold front that should be taking us down from 60F to 34F this evening, and with the morning temperature somewhere in the mid-50s I found my wardrobe decisions rather perplexing.  As I usually do in such situations, I intentionally over-dressed.  Hot I can handle; cold, not so much. 

As I rode up the levee in the dark I could see that the meeting place was deserted.  I checked my watch.  Four minutes early.  For the 6:15 am ride, four minutes is an eternity.  I rode around in little circles for a while as riders started arriving from both directions, and by 6:20 we were heading upriver and upwind in the moonlight. Brian (I think that's his name, right?) went to the front and pulled all the way to the bridge at a pretty good pace, I came through briefly, and it looked like a nice little paceline might get going.  He reached in his pocket and handed me an inner tube that Louise (I think that's her name, right?) had given him to give to me since I'd given her one the other morning when she'd double-flatted on the wet bike path. Of course, with Rob on his TT bike, and Woody and Howard near the front, I figured an all-inclusive paceline wasn't going to survive very long.  Naturally, Howard went to the front and pushed the pace up by three or four mph.  The rest, including me, were reluctant to follow.  A couple went around to bridge but with the headwind there wasn't much enthusiasm there.  Three of four rolled away and the rest of the group finally settled down into a paceline with a few sitting on a the back.

The return trip was going to feature some significant tailwind stretches. I always find tailwinds more difficult than headwinds on group rides like this.  For the first few miles the group was in conversation mode and I was starting to think we might have a fairly steady 20 miles back to civilization.  Well apparently that wasn't what everyone was thinking.  Next thing I know, I'm in a group off the front with Rob, Woody, Howard and Rolan and we're going around 28-30 mph.  OK, so I figure I'll try not to take any long pulls and see how it goes.  Howard surges at the front.  I come through behind him and take a really short pull.  Dropping back, I glance over my right shoulder as I prepare to get on the back of the paceline and there's a big gap where Howard should be.  I look under my arm and catch a glimpse of Howard coming back to the group so I back off a bit rather than fill the spot. Well, that was a mistake!  Rob's on the front so the pace up there is increasing.  Howard is accelerating up to the back of the paceline, and I'm basically coasting.  Not good.  Howard flies past me onto the last wheel and suddenly I'm gapped off the back by five bike lengths.  I accelerate up to 28 and close a little of it but they're still  hammering at the front and I'm still too far back to get the draft.  I see Woody dropping down the paceline after taking a pull and he glances back at me as he tacks onto the last wheel.  I struggle along for a couple of minutes more, but I've been out in the wind too long and I have to back off.  After that, I spent a few miles in no-mans-land, holding a sustainable pace but of course still gradually losing ground on the paceline up ahead.  Soon, I hear a wheel coming up from behind and Brian pulls alongside. Yea!  I get on his wheel for a little rest as he takes a long pull.

We worked together the rest of the way back, and for a while we were closing the gap, but in the end the best we could do was to limit our losses as we both started to fade after the Country Club bend.  We had been going 27-30 most of the way with the tailwind, but it was a little inconsistent, so the gap was probably a little over a minute by the time we finally backed off a mile or so before the bridge.  Good workout, though!

So I've been having some problems with my trusty commuting bike lately.  Some time back, after a few particularly rainy days, I'd forgotten to re-lube the chain and found it starting to rust.  This is a standard cheap single-speed chain, and that was enough to cause it to "stretch," which is what we call it when the links start to wear to the point where the chain doesn't mesh so well with the cogs.  Being a beat-up commuting bike, I didn't worry about it much, but as time went on I started having a problem with the chain coming off.  This was due to the fact that the little bit of "stretch" had made it impossible to get the chain tight enough on the old horizontal dropout bike.  Every now and then, when I'd be riding down a bumpy road, which pretty well describes all of the roads on which I normally commute, the chain would come off and I'd have to stop and get my fingers dirty.  This happened twice yesterday on my way home, and I made a mental note to pick up a new chain the next time I had a chance.  Well, as it turned out, I forgot to put my bike lock key in my pocket this morning when I went to work.  This isn't really a problem since I can easily roll the bike right into my office and lean it against the wall.  So there I am, sitting at my desk, and I glance up at the bike and notice something doesn't look right.  Upon closer inspection I realize that one of the link plates is completely broken.  It's rather amazing that the thing is still working.  I guess my next stop will be the LBS (local bike shop).  The only question is whether I'll be walking part of the way there.....