So I guess I will just jump right into it. Last week I registered for a 4 hours race at Erwin Park on Sept 11. I typically race on my single speed but I haven't really spent much time on it since I dislocated my kneecap back in late February. So I went ahead and registered for the 4 hour in the geared category. Then two days later, while airing up the tires on my geared MTB is see something odd where the bottom carbon section of seatstay meets up with the aluminum sections. I think I see a crack and it definitely looks like the seam is broken. This could also be the cause of a mysterious creak I have not been able to identify.
So I take it over to BikePlus (where I bought it) and they look at it and decided to submit it to Cannondale for a warranty replacement. If approved, I will just have to pay for them to move all the components to a new frame. However, they have no clue when the new frame would arrive and I won't know if the replacement is approved until Tuesday (8/30).
This is probably going to leave me without my geared bike for the race on 9/11.
So I spent the weekend getting my SS back into riding shape and took it out to Erwin Park (race location) for a lap. I geared the bike pretty knee friendly 32x20. When I was in really good shape I was riding 32x18 and 32x17 out at Erwin and flying.
Riding the SS takes a different riding style and my legs are not in SS shape right now. Most single speeders jokes that a SS has 3 speeds, sitting, standing, and walking. The hills were kicking my ass and my legs were burning like crazy on the climbs. Part of that was the 50 miles I road the day before, so the fact that I completely a lap makes me happy. But it was a pretty slow lap. 56 minutes.
On the race, I get 4 hours to complete as many laps as possible. So max laps I am going to get is 4. But to get 4 laps my pace can not slow too much over the course of the race. If I can hold a 56 minute lap pace, that leaves me only 16 minutes of pit time for the entire race. Assuming I will slow a minute per lap (being very optimistic here) I would end up with 10 minutes of pit time.
When I did the 6 hour at Erwin in 2015, I geared 32x21 and got 6 laps done. My lap times were 55, 55, 56, 57, 1:02, 1:02. I would be super happy with those first 4 lap times!!! So will probably gear 32x21 at this race too.
Here are the 4 scenarios in order of least likely to most likely.
- I maintain my 56 minute lap and have awesome pits and get 4 laps in under 4 hours.
- I slow slightly per lap but pit well but come in just over the 4 hour limit and the last lap doesn't count.
- I slow significantly per lap and realize I can only get 3 laps and call it a day at 3.
- I finish 2 laps and throw my SS in the woods and say a lot of cuss words.
I signed up for the race just to get out there and do it. I know I'm probably going to be DFL but I don't really care. If I roll up to the start on this one, it will be a win.
Right now I am in a hold pattern until I hear back from the bike shop. If the warranty replacement is approved I will email the race people and get moved to the SS category. If not, then I will ride my cannondale and hopefully the seatstay won't break off and jam its self into any sensitive locations.
