Mr. Mechanical

We went to Hellyer for another Saturday morning session, a chance to learn a bit, practice a bit, chat with a few folks. It was great weather, a bit breezy occasionally, but we were loving the 70F temps, much better than some of the days in the 90’s. We ran into a Panda at the front gate, where no one was there to take our money for parking and the machine that is supposed to take in in the absence of human attention was not in the mood to relieve us of our crisp $1 bills, either. A couple swipes of the old ATM card and in we go to the ‘drome.

A contingent of blogworld participants was soon on hand to join us and the Panda; Velo Bella, Olaf, XBunny, Merkeley (with his sweet looking newly built Felt), and Pab. Pab opted for some road ride time since he cannot play on the track, yet, and was off south to Morgan Hill while the rest of us chased our tails in circles. Lots of first timers at the track this week and Mark was doing things in measured fashion, which was good. The Wife got a good rental, for a change, and was enjoying being pain free. All was going well until the second lap of the warmup when my bike made a strange sound so I pulled off track and went and looked things over. Nothing seemed amiss, so I did a chain adjustment and went for a couple of test laps on the apron. All seemed fine, no more strange noises, so I integrated back into the paceline. On the second lap after integration the chain broke just as we came out of turn two. Shyte! I coasted around, picked up the chain, and went back to the infield. A quick check showed all appropriate sized rentals were out, so I quickly fitted a new chain onto my bike. As I was tensioning the new chain it became a bit more clear what was happenning. I would tension the chain, turn the crank and the chain would then be either too loose or too tight. The darned chainring is not round! Current theory is that when it hits the part of the oval with the smaller diameter, the chain become loose enough to partially roll off the ring, gets caught as the chain tightens, and snaps. Workaround for the rest of the day was to overtighten the chain slightly so even at its loose point it is still tight enough.

Back onto the track for a rubber band drill. All went well. Then into two and then three person pursuits off the front. All went fine, again. Final workouts were 5 lap scratch races. I went in the third group and decided I was going to stay with the main pack but not attack until the last lap. As the group started fragmenting on the second lap I worked to stay tucked in at back of the field and not get caught by someone popping. Coming into turn 4 it happened, a loud pop, and I knew this pop was the end of the day for me. A blowout on the rear. I was able to keep it under control, pull onto the apron and stop, but the bead of the tire is shot. In a few minutes I will head out in search of a new chainring and new tires. They will now call me Mr. Mechanical at Hellyer.

More pics to the Gallery later today. I promise. Or tomorrow at the latest.

Update: Pictures are on-line here