Lost magnets

The TT season is spluttering to an end. Last week, was a 10 mile TT on the A3. It was cancelled because of unexpected rain. After driving all the way, I thought I would go out for a little spin, it you can’t get a pb, you can always try steal a local KOM,  it doesn’t make it worth while, but better than just sitting in your car. To be honest, my heart wasn’t in it, and going up the first hill my chain came off. I made the mistake of trying to put the chain on without getting my hands dirty. I tried to use some random leaves as improbably gloves. The problem is that I failed miserably and also, in the process, managed to knock off the Quark magnet from near the chain stay. Note to self – when putting chain back on – it’s always easier just to get your hands dirty with oil.

classic-tt-otley25

After wiping fingers clean, and generally messing around, I’d lost where magnet fell off, so the next 20 minutes was scrabbling around in the dark undergrowth to look for a small magnet. Why is it so hard to find small things when they fall off bikes? I took that as more than a hint to call it a day and head home. That was the last 10 mile TT of the season.

For the first time since 2005, I’ve entered the national 25 tomorrow because it is just down the road in Marlow. I was looking forward to it as it looks to be a good event, with a strong field. But, I’ve come down with a mid-summer cold so that’s the inglorious end of that.

I have been waiting all season for a new skin suit. I probably put too much hopes on a skin suit saving lots of time and magically transforming me into a super fast TT’er, but it’s been frustrating waiting for it to turn up. After so many false dawns, I predicted it would turn up a day after the national 25. But, it’s been sent special delivery to arrive today. So, if I’m lucky, I will have it – just in time to dns tomorrow..

It’s not all doom and gloom on the TT front, after all, Feb to August is really just the warm up for the main event which is the more perpendicular challenges of the hill climb season. Big mileage all year, a little rest and recovery early August – and then it will be time to race up the hills.

PBs

I’m up in Yorkshire next week so I did think about entering a 10 on the super fast V718 10 course the  in Yorkshire. I’ve ridden it twice and took a minute off nearest fast course anywhere else. In the end, I decided not to enter, but concentrate on just riding in the Yorkshire hills. It’s a super-fast course, but my motivation for setting pbs on these courses has waned in recent years. One of highlights of this season was to finally get a 19 on my local Bentley course. I’d rather set course bests on local courses than have to drive a long way to get artificially fast times on far-away courses. It’s a sentiment often expressed, though in the real world – fast courses are always over-subscribed compared to other courses. That’s the nature of time triallling – faster times will always have an attraction.

Gardening

With a cold and time off the bike, it’s time to do a bit of sluggish gardening – having a cold is one of the rare times when you’re not recovering from strenuous efforts from the bike. The problem is that digging out couch grass with a cold isn’t as much fun as blasting along on a TT bike at 30mph.

8 thoughts on “Lost magnets”

  1. You probably already know this, but if the chain fell off at the crankset “inwards” (towards the frame), there is no need to get your hands dirty: Just shift up again and continue turning the crank. Don’t even need to sto, the chain will get on again. Haven’t tried it with electronic shifting though. Also in some frames the space is too small and the chain can get stuck – in those cases bike shops have little devices to mount there to avoid that.

    I guess for searching the fallen magnet, a piece of metal would have been usefull, but where would you find that at the side of the road??? Quite annoying.

    I wish you patience and getting well soon with that cold!

    Reply
  2. Surely you should just ride a steel bike? Then you could just wave the frame around in the general area, and ‘Hey Presto!’ – the magnet will find the bike…

    ? No ?

    ;¬{D

    Reply

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