national on home turf

there is still mud on my bike. no bike cleaning facilities at the race on Sunday added insult to injury, as I was forced to pull out of the race probably by some of this very same mud. I came round the corner to see one of the guys I normally race against looking at his derailleur perched unnaturally above his cassette. he forced a smile and warned me that it was muddy, yeah cheers, and 2 pedal strokes later my derailleur found the same position. now I'm not sure if it was the riders talking or the bikes crunching (crunch. crunch crunch? crunch crunch!!) to each other, but this started some kind of chain reaction as about 6 of the 10 riders around me suffered the same fate, at exactly the same spot



up until this point, it was good racing. somewhere between 50 and 60 people on the start line and I was riding in around 25th place at the time of the muddy derailleur death. good to see that the level of the national races is not hugely different from the level of the weekly provincial races, this bodes well for next season. anyway I think I put my dura ace derailleur back together, using some parts salvaged from the old 105 derailleur which died earlier in the season. only problem now is, the drop out of my frame is broken. this shouldn't have been a problem, as last week i ordered a new frame to replace the cracked schwinn, but it hasnt arrived yet. so while i wait and hope it arrives, i am choosing ratios for Saturday's races if it comes to it that I have to do it singlespeed.



thanks to the canadian avenger for the video, and willem jan, who has come to 2 races and witnessed 2 mechanicals, coincidence..? saturday's race is in berkel, riding distance away, looking forward to it, gears or no gears!