Fools Gold 50 turned into a Fools errand. Omens were bad after a sketchy Monster Cross last weekend. Then I get my fork back form a rebuild/warranty and cant get it to work correctly. Two days of stressing and taking it apart and cant figure out whats up. Thanks to Franklin S. Paine for giving me a place to lay me head last night and putting up with my stressing over the bike. Decided to ride it anyway. Not willing to bail after paying the entry and making the effort to go down the night before. Front end feels like it has a gyro in it making it sway from side to side in a harmonic fashion. Ended up not being as big as a safety issue as I thought but still sought out extra room while riding in the pack down the pavement. Noted that Greg Turner and Chris Ready were up the road in the 50+ class (along with the speedy guy from S. Fla that won the Big Frog 65) so I was running 4th up the initial climb. Hooked up with Franklin for the last half of the climb before losing him on the Winding Stair descent. Couldnt let it go with the fork situation. Hit the single track and let a couple riders by. There went Carey Lowery never to be seen again by me until the podium show. Soon started to feel the upper body getting tired. The constant minor pulling on the bars from left/right is taking its toll. Hands are going numb because I cannot easily relax my grip with the front end floating. Riding one handed to shake out the other was a bit of a task too. Legs still felt good though up until the climb after rest stop 2 (No Tell?). Then the legs reminded me they no longer have 5 hour fitness and that we were at 3 hours and they were about done. Went into survival mode and was making my way home when there was a surprise right up a steep bank. Quickly shifted and when I started spinning, SNAP...the first ride $50 KMC chain snaps. Pull out my trusty Park multi-tool only to realize the push pin is no longer present. Sit down and wait for someone to ask if Im OK (if they dont offer, I dont ask...dudes are racing). Being the true sportsman that he is, Carl Deckers stopped long enough to hand my his multi-tool with the instructions to give it back when I caught him. HA! That did not happen. Thanks Carl! Said hello to my good friends Polly Ester and Brian Bell as they rolled by as I was putting things back together and proceeded to mosey on home. Found Brian at his truck about 6 miles out and was soooo tempted to catch a ride but decided if Id made it this far, I might as well finish. Had a guy roll by me on the pavement with two miles to go in a Matthews Cycling kit. I ask if thats Matthews cycling in Indianapolis. He confirmed it was an I mentioned I grew up 3 miles from the shop and purchased my first bike in 1973 from them. Turns out hes a big trail builder up there and designed and drove the construction of the trails at Ft. Benjamin Harrison a couple miles from my brothers house. After the race I went down to Dawsonville to visit The Art of Stone Landscaping team shop Northstar Bicycles to see if they can help determine the issue with my fork/headset/front end. Zach did some serious sleuthing and eventually determined that the 2nd top end of my fork that SRAM sent as a warranty was also did not have the correct crown for my frame. Turns out the fork crown was hitting the frame before the fork bearing race ever met the bearing. So I rode the whole race with the frame riding directly on the fork crown. No wonder my arms were tired. Got some phone calls to make on Monday. Not the best of days, but an epic long day on the bike, saw some friends and learned that the problem wasnt my mechanical skills so it was a good day overall.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 23:20:06 +0000
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