Low Mileage

After last week's pretty good riding opportunities, this week is already looking really bad. When I woke up on Monday and looked out the window I could barely see the other side of the street because of the dense fog. Still groggy from sleep I made the unwise decision to skip riding. If I'd thought about it for a bit I would have realized I was going to need all the saddle time I could muster this week. An early meeting on Tuesday would require me to cut that ride short, and then rain was predicted for Wednesday morning. To make matters worse, this is the week leading up to Mardi Gras, so there could be some evening excursions to parades that sometimes have undesirable repercussions the next morning.

Around 3 or 4 am this morning I could hear thunder and rain.  The forecast for 6 am had something like a 90% chance of rain with strong winds, so I wasn't surprised. The night before I'd switched the old Pennine out of Cyclocross mode back into Rain Bike mode, changing out the antique long-cage derailleur for an equally antique short-cage one, installing the classic old steel fenders, swapping out the 'cross wheels (well, "wheel" since I destroyed one at the last race), and adjusting the brake shoes to account for the old-style 27" rims. If it wasn't actually raining in the morning I'd be all set to at least get in a few miles.  Well, it was actually raining in the morning so I bailed. A couple of hours later the front had moved through and now it's windy but with almost clear skies and a temperature in the 60s .... and of course I'm at work in front of a computer. I did think to throw the Garmin and some shorts in my bag on the off chance that I actually get up the motivation, and find the time, to get on one of the WattBikes at some point today. Hope springs eternal.

With over 34,000 miles plus whatever Matt put on it before
I bought it from him, I guess the big ring isn't looking all
 that bad, but it's still definitely time for replacement.

So since I didn't ride this morning I went downstairs and got a small start on some work I need to do on the Bianchi. On the top of that list is installing a new chain and new chainrings. The old chain is showing about 4,600 miles on it right now, so I guess there's a good chance I'll be in for a new cassette by the time I'm done. At least I got the really messy stuff done - removing the chain and pulling off the chainrings and derailleur jockey wheels, which by the way were pretty cruddy after all the riding I've been doing on wet streets lately. I'm going to pull the crankset off and at least have a peek at the bottom bracket bearings to make sure they aren't dried out or rusting, but it spins OK at the moment so I don't think there's any significant damage there. I've been hearing a little clunk once per crank revolution for the last week or so, so I'll probably clean things up and get a little green LocTite between the shell and the bearings and otherwise grease anything else that might need it. If I get really energetic I may take a look at the headset bearings as well.  Next will be replacing cables, but that is going to involve also cleaning up the right shifter that has not been engaging the thumb shifter very well for months. I'll probably be on the Orbea for a couple of days if I don't want to pull an all-nighter, which I probably won't be able to do anyway because inevitably I'll be missing something I need to finish the job and will have to make a trip to the shop.