Extreme Momentum

Wisconsin State TT Championship
May 31, 2008 – Brighton, WI
Masters 30-34 – DNF
264 watts – 25.2 MPH

I woke up on Saturday morning and I had a weird feeling that I should skip the day’s race. However, I was motivated to race in warmer weather and see if I could go for a better time than I had 2 weeks prior at the MATTS Double Bong.

Traffic was a real pain with all of the road construction. There were a lot of state troopers out nabbing speeders, and I didn’t see the new photo radar traps that we’re supposed to be recently installed. My normal trip took 30 minutes longer, but I still had about 45 minutes to warm up. My legs were feeling good, but my body was lethargic from bad sleep.

Conditions were warmer, but just as windy as the MATTS Double Bong. Having done that race helped me determine how I should pace the course. The starters were only running a few minutes behind and I had a hold at the start. After a few miles, I knew I just wasn’t into the race. I wasn’t using my power meter at all to gauge my effort, but I could just feel I was slower.

The wind on the homestretch was great. I went through the first lap a little disappointed with my time, but was determined to hammer it on the second lap. That’s probably what went wrong.

I took the turn right by the start WAY faster than I had the previous week (24 vs 30 MPH). Dumb idea. I should have slowed myself a little and had a drink of water. Instead, I found myself skidding on the pavement. Oh, crap…

I immediately sat up and realized nothing major was broken. I sat on the road for a minute or two to get my bearings. Since I was by the start, I had several people ask if I was OK and move my bike out of the way. I had hunch something was wrong with my shoulder, so I kept my right arm close to my chest like I had seen the pros do so often in the Tour de France. One rider even came to look at my shoulder and asked if I had ever broken my collar bone, because I had a bump. I said no and he said I likely broke it. Great.

One of the Team Wheaton (the hosting club) riders came over an aid kit and asked how I was doing. We walked over to the registration area so I could rest and we could figure out what to do. I didn’t want to call an ambulance, but then I also couldn’t drive myself to the hospital with my stick shift. Thankfully, one of the dads at the race volunteered to drive me to the Burlington Hospital.

It also helped that the Burlington Hospital ER was nice and quiet on Saturday morning. I was by far the youngest patient and the only one not in for more serious issues (eg, cardiovascular pain). I saw the ER doc in about 20 minutes and had an x-ray. Dr. Wood came out with my x-ray and showed my break. He put me in a sling and had my wounds cleaned. He said it would heal with time, but still have an orthopedic follow up. Now my biggest challenge would be how to get back to Chicago.

While waiting in the ER, I called Rose and luckily her sister had already come over for lunch. They were able to rent a car and drive up to get me. The ride back wasn’t fun, since the slightest road vibrations shook my fracture. The whole day turned out to be quite an adventure.

A big thanks to Nate from Team Wisconsin and his dad for helping me after my crash. Now, it’s just a waiting game for the healing.

I’ve finally reached the point in bicycle maintenance where I embark on procedures that only seasoned mechanics often thread–I mean tread. One of these is chasing and facing bottom brackets.

For those of you who don’t know what a bottom bracket is, it’s the part of the bike that holds the crank. On new frames, the threads that hold it in place need to be prepped (aka, chased) and paint on the outside of the shell needs to be removed (aka, faced) for proper installation of today’s external bottom bracket cups.

These procedures are usually performed by expert bike mechanics due to the potential damage to the frame, as well as the cost of tools involved. Unless a rider buys new frames on a regular basis, it’s best just to have a shop prep the frame.

Considering my rotating stock of bikes and interest in bike building, it made sense to invest in tools for these procedures. Plus, I had an old frame that I could practice on. I decided to get the Ice Toolz Bottom Bracket Tapping/Facing tool, which at $175 is significantly cheaper than the $650 Park Tool version.

I first tried the chasing/facing procedure on an old Gary Fisher MTB frame. Things went easier than I thought. OK, now for the legal disclaimer…don’t try this at home! Seriously, I’ve been working on bikes for about 5 years now and learned a good deal about mechanical and metal work during shop in high school (aka, I ran out of advanced chemistry classes). These procedures are best left for an experienced mechanic at a bike shop–unless you talk me into doing this for you.

I next decided to prep a Blue CXC frame that I got last year, but never properly built. Here are some photos demonstrating the steps:

Here’s the the unprepped bottom bracket shell.
Note paint on the outside of the shell.

The first step is to insert the tapping/chasing tools.
Turning these as the same time clean the threads
and make screwing the bottom bracket in easier.

The next step is to use the facing tool
to remove the extra paint. This took a
great deal of time, but makes the
bottom bracket cups line up better.

Here’s the finished frame. Please note the nice
shiny surface where the paint has been removed.

Talk about weird riding conditions. On my ride yesterday up the North Shore, the temperatures were about 50 degrees F with a NE wind off the lake. My toes were pretty cold at the end of the ride. Today, on the same route, temperatures were in the mid-to-upper 70s with a SW wind. My toes were warm, but I had a nice crusty “frost” of salt covering my face. The joys of living along Lake Michigan in the spring.