My bike is fixed - HHHOOORRRAAAYYY

$100.00, a new FSA headset, and a trimmed steering tube, later my bike is as good as new. A special thanks to Crunch friend Roland for lending me a bike to ride while mine was in for repair.

Later
Captain Crunch

Miles to date: 772
Goal: 5000

US 40k TT weekend Part Duex

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY...

I arrived to the start area plenty early to check in and get a good warmup. This is where the race started. That's right, we started right in the shadow the only US nuclear power disaster site, Three Mile Island.

The weather started out cold and damp but turned out to be a great morning for bike racing. The course ran from TMI to Marietta PA (24.8 miles or 40 kilometers). My start time was 8:49am. 40 minutes and 20k later I was in Marietta averaging a good speed and in a good rhythm through quite a headwind. However, it was not to last. As I was making my turn to comeback my tire picked up a 1 inch piece of glass causing it to go flat. The good news was the race organizers had spare wheels right at that point. I quickly hopped off my bike and changed the wheel, however I still lost 5 minutes during the change. Unfortunately the wheel I was using had a 9 speed cassette and all the spares had 10 speed setups, so the entire way back I only had 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th gears in the big ring.

Because I had a headwind out, it was tailwind the whole way back, combined with adrenaline from the wheel change, I managed to turn a respectable time back to TMI. My actual time was 1 hour 21 minutes (18.3 mph avg.), but my actual time spent riding was closer to 1:16 (19.2 mph avg).

That time was good enough for.... last place in my catagory and 4th to last overall (click here for the results). I suffered, I got a flat tire, finished last, and loved every second of it! In fact I am planning on doing another 40k TT in Carlise next month!

Overall I had a great time and learned how far I can really push myself!

Until next time thanks for reading

Captain Crunch

U.S 40k TT weekend part 1

The weekend really began on Friday evening. I had just gotten my aero clip-on bars the day before and wanted to test the setup I had on a quick 10 mile TT. As I'm rolling up to a stop sign I grab the front brake and the whole front end starts shaking uncontrollably. Upon further examination, Jim and me discovered that the top headset bearing was totally toast.

I managed to limp the bike back home and called my closest Bianchi dealer to see if he has a headset in stock. First thing Saturday morning I haul the bike up to Holmes Cycling and Fitness in Camp Hill hoping they can fix it the same day, as the headset was in stock. More bad news, I'm told it is going to take a week. So now I don't have a bike for the TT on Sunday.

Once again, the great Jim Thome came to the rescue. Because he was not riding the TT, Jim graciously lent me his TT specific bike. My entire afternoon on Saturday was spent tweaking the setup so I would be as aero as possible, yet still comfortable on a unfamiliar bike. By 3:00 PM I had the setup dialed in and was ready to race.

More to follow up tomorrow on the actual race, results, and pictures!

Thanks for Reading,
Captain Crunch

Furnace Hill Rematch

Just a quick update this week. I went back to Furnace Hill (not alone this time) and the bike made it back in one piece. In fact we averaged 16.3 mph through a good headwind for most of the ride.

That's all,

Captain Crunch

Miles Ridden to Date: 516
Goal: 5000