Mike's Bike Blog

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Mike's Bike Blog

The Dam Loop

January 18, 2009 · 2 Comments

Today I wanted to get out and give a hard effort so I embarked on the Dam Loop. For the 42 miles I averaged 18.7 mph. I tried to keep it around 24 mph as much as possible and only slowed down on the hills. I'm finding it easier and easier to hold 24 mph so that's encouraging.

As I was climbing up the hill by Steiner Ranch I got out of the saddle and started to lay into it when the chain started slipping. I shifted from the big ring down and that seemed to help. About 1 mile from Anderson Mill it started again, but this time it finally ceased up and wouldn't turn. Upon inspection a link was broke!

I started walking to Spin City, luckily a fellow cyclist stopped and gave me a lift to the shop. Erik was surprised at the wear on the chain, he put a chain gauged on it and it registered .7 which he said was an indicator of needing changing according to Shimano. I've only put roughly 1200 miles on the bike since November. For now he took the bad link out.

This past week I rode 113 miles, besides the Sunday group ride down Parmer most of that mileage was fairly light, keeping it in zones 1 & 2 so averaging under 217 watts. This was in anticipation of racing on Saturday. I also kept up my lifting weights hitting them 3 days as well.

In other race news, I'm signed up for the Cat 4/5 race in New Braunfels on 2/1.


Tags: Hills

2 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Arlyn // Jan 21, 2009 at 10:56 PM

    Once I broke my chain which caused me to go over the handlebars (I was sprinting out of the saddle). Glad you caught yours early. I carry a chain tool on training rides for this.
  • 2 Mike // Jan 22, 2009 at 5:58 AM

    Arlyn, a little over a year ago I did the same thing. I snapped my chain while I was doing hill sprints at 17-18 mph. I didn't go over the bars but I went down. Got a concussion from that one. I need to carry a chain tool and learn how to use it.

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