clean, clean & clean some more

Enough is enough no more talk about the Hill of Truth race. I am in the process of going through the Mamasita and assessing the damage. So far so good everything seems to be in good working order, a little crusty but working. I noticed that my drivetrain wasn't spinning after I cleaned and lubed it and upon further inspection I realized my lower pulley wheel in my derailleur was frozen up. I made a quick call to my LBS and got a set on order plus a new set of brake pads which were on their way out anyway. As I was shooting the bull with bike shop aficionado Mark P. I went ahead and pulled the cranky wheel out of the derailleur, it finally came loose but not as loose as it should so instead of trying to clean it I think I'll go ahead and replace them both.

While I was in the zone I pulled my brake calipers and all I saw was brown, I sprayed some brake cleaner in the caliper to help loosen things up trying to be careful not to get it all over me. Unfortunately some ran down my hand and under my watch. I went to the sink to wash it off and I noticed that my watch was looking a bit funny. Upon closer inspection some of the plastic had melted and discolored. The weird thing is that my skin was fine, no burning or irritation. I guess I'll need to be a bit more careful with that stuff in the future.

As I clean up my bike and the ECO trailer I have come to a sad realization, last weekend was our last camping trip of the year and my last race of the year, at least that I know of. It's kinda sad and now I get the joy of learning how to winterize the camper. It's kinda of depressing knowing that winter is closing in on us and daylight is getting shorter and shorter.

I did receive a bit of good news the other day in the form of an email. Registration is already up for the 6 Hours of Warriors Creek, a definite must on my calendar but it's 4 1/2 months away.