… one of my chain ring bolts fell out, the rest were loose and i couldn’t climb Eichler road on the bike! Doomed to ride the rest of the course on the big ring, I started cramping with 7 miles to go. I was doomed. The man obviously has serious mojo!
I was doing the Univest Cyclosportif in Souderton, PA this morning. Us non-pro/1/2 riders get to do timed ride on the first 100km of the course used for the Grand Prix (those poor bastards go on to do another 60-70 miles on a urban crit course). Its a great ride - strong cat3 riders and others show up to finish well because in the past there have been teams offering places to the fastest couple of winners. I was looking forward to a fast training ride, and in particular I wanted to see how these roadies would actually work it. Things were going very well: I had progressed to the front group of about 12-15 guys, including Floyd who had caught up to us at about mile 18 or so. I wasn’t working very hard, the group wasn’t slamming it at all, but I was happy to think that I’d get to test my tri and ultra-based riding against what these guys would pull out in the last 10-20 miles. I didn’t lose too much at all on the climbs (surpise),. but any hope of using my aero bars seemed doomed. Floyd was sitting up front, not pulling but enjoying the view on this very pretty course.
And then we hit Eichler Rd. Listed as 1.17 miles at 7%, in reality its much, much steeper than that for the last half mile. My chain popped off almost as soon as the road pulled upward. Curses! I stopped to get it back on, set off. It popped off again. I check the chainrings. The bolts are all loose and one is missing! A kindly dude walking his lends me his wrench, I tighten them back up. I get back on, thinking I might be able to catch them with a patented Tri-TT-Pull ™. But the chain pops off again, and again and again. I start running up the last 400m of the hill, cursing like a madman. By this time the 2nd pack has caught and passed, as have several lone riders. I get over the top and what do you know! There was a point to having aero-bars after all. 30 miles of a pack, now the TT begins. I drop downward, sit forward and crank the bike at 26-29mph for the next 10 miles and catch the 2nd group who I then pull for another 6 miles or so. We catch a few more riders, but its hopeless for me - the road turns upwards for the last climb and without the small ring, my legs are toast. Even that group gets entirely away from me. I cramp, walk a bit, ride some more, can’t push. The last 7 miles my speed drops to 19mph or so, and I even cramp again just a mile from the finish. My feelings towards my chainrings are summarized by that t-shirt that says “Fk you you fking f**k!”. Its being replaced next week anyway.
All that said, it was a lovely course, some decent hills too and lots of little ones. Why don’t people generally run tris on courses like this? I guess not enough triathletes have the bike handling skills. I remembered why I don’t like conventional road racing, but hey, it was great to see 23mph on the speedo and feel like you were barely working. Some decent riders too, that Landis guy might turn out not so bad, but I guess we have to wait and see 
The race scene back in Souderton looked like a lot of fun, but I had to get back and help the kids as well as do bike maintainance on Julie’s bike before she headed off for the Diamondman 1/2IM tomorrow.