We had three Ironman bikes in here yesterday. This is what we found on all three: Three worn out, cut clincher tires. One stripped spoke nipple. A broken stem clamping plate. All three needed handlebar tape. A worn out chain and cogset. A worn out rear brake caliper (never saw that before). Loose saddle head clamp. Shorted out computer wire. Another worn out chain. Water in a bottom bracket.
That is just three bikes. You guys have worked hard in preparation for the event and put your bikes through a lot of tough mileage. Today is the day to bring it to your LBS and tell them how important it is your bike runs dependably and trouble free on race day. Your whole season is riding on it.
Failing to finish your “A” race of the year for want of a new $49.99 tire would be very disappointing. Be sure your LBS understands the gravity of what they are doing- it isn’t just another tune-up…
thanks for the reminder. i blew out another tire at the weekend and dropped it off then. good thing too as my mechanic is going on vacation next week (the nerve of him eh? )
Tom, I will be bringing my bike in before Duke Blue Devil (still have 7 weeks). What is the initial tune-up charge before any parts etc…? and should I bring it in with my race wheels on it?
Let’s have a look at it the way it will be raced- in other words, bring your race wheels with you.
One thing people tend to not think about is that if their bike has worked well during the entire Ironman training saeson they presume that will continue for the race. And that is a reasonable and truthfully, fairly accurate assumpiton.
However.
A mechanical probelm is something you can control or at least limit the chances of happening. It is withn your “sphere of influence” (Stephen Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), therefore, you can exert an effect on it. For a race to be ruined by a preventable mechnical problem is not bad luck, it is bad planning and preparation.
Your approach Jeff, is the right one in my opinion: Ask good questions and maintain the bike preemptively. Because of this it is unlikely you will ever be blindsided by a mysterious mechnical problem during the a race.
Here’s a fun one: A fella had done an excellent job preparing for Ironman on a new bike bought that year. He never rode the bike in the rain and never carried on a car rack outside his vehicle. It had several 100 mile training rides and the rest of season on it. Everything looked pretty good *until *we took the chain off the chainrings and spun his crank as a part of the bottom bracket inspection. The crank barely rotated. Odd. We pulled the bottom bracket and there was this mysterious black, foul smelling ooze in there. It was like tar. It had worked its way into everything. Upon closer inpsection we discovered it was sports drink residue that entered his frame through the water bottle hole and then congealed inside the frame. It really stunk and it seized up his bottom bracket. We pulled it out, cleaned it up, and off he went.
I wonder if that made it harder to pedal? I gotta believe the effect wasn’t good… And we saved his bottom bracket.
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