Bottom Bracket Anxiety

Take it easy on your bottom bracket!
Inside every frame beats a bicycle’s heart and it is known as the bottom bracket. No centimeter of terrain is traveled without this beating heart turning over time and time again. Relentlessly driving you forward, never questioning its purpose, selflessly taking the full brunt of your pedal forces. A quiet work horse who asks for no recognition, seeks no glory, and never rests. Why then do you insist on blaming every click, clack, clunk, creak, and squeak on this trusty warrior. Of course like every hero your bottom bracket may tire and a replacement must be summoned. But you must resist those who are building a culture of fear based on worn out BB’s! They want you to be listening, always listening for the first signs of this attack. Looking down at every switch back and wondering, “when will my BB fail”? They want you to second guess your next bike ride and instead go to the shop for a new one. They want you to be tortured by the slightest unknown sound your bike generates. They want you to be counting the miles until your bottom bracket explodes right between your feet launching you into the nearest ravine. I am here to tell you, we have searched for the creaks and clicks and our findings are conclusive. The noise you fear is not coming from your bottom bracket!

Conquering the Laramie Enduro!

Submitted by Michelle Byers

Saturday, July 28th: The 4:30 am wake-up call came earlier than I had hoped given that I hadn’t slept much the past several nights; my brain was in overdrive thinking about the race. This was only my second endurance race, and having been pulled from the Park City E50 the previous year after missing a cutoff time, I was amped to see how my training was going to pay off in the 2007 Laramie Enduro.

After downing a plain bagel and chocolate soy milk, I lay on the bed and ran through my race strategy in my head. Go out hard and fast through at least aid station #2 to make time on the course hopefully ensuring that I made all the cutoff times. The good news was that it had been raining in Laramie all week, so the trails were well packed and fast as we learned the day before in our pre-race ride.
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Jay Petervary Wins GDR!

YEEEEE HAAAAA JAY! We are all so proud of you! Thanks for the amazing inspiration. If some of you out there don’t know, Jay P won the Great Divide Bike Race and broke the record! Look at my last GDR post below for all the pertinent links. I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said all over the internet, so I’ll simply post Jay’s last 3 call in reports… I think that says it all!
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Jay P Leads Great Divide Race!

OK, This is the most exciting race in the world… I think! 2500 miles, 200k feet of climbing, +/- 16 days, and self supported! That’s right those are very similar to the stats for the Tour De France except the whole self supported thing! The best part is our man Jay Petervary is leading the race with authority in his first attempt at this epic which started Friday June15th. I can’t possibly describe how great it is to follow his progress so I’ll just give you the tools to experience it yourself.

Race Details
www.greatdividerace.com

Transcribed Phone Messages from the Racers
greatdividerace.blogspot.com

Audio Podcasts of the Racers Phone Calls!!
www.mtbcast.com

MTBR Forum full of chit chat and speculation on the race
www.mtbr.com - forums - endurance racing - GDR Updates

Chart of Daily Results
www.topofusion.com/divide/GDR07.htm

According to the topofusion chart Jay has 535 miles to go!

Here’s the latest and greatest on JP, June 27, 9pm:
Got hit today with some hail-had to use his umbrella and hang out under a tree for 45 minutes. Then made it to Cuba, ate good, showered, shaved, cleaned his clothes and is inside with his bike, last night too, so he’s been getting good sleep. Did a little more then 100 miles today, which included a lot of climbing, had 200 ounces of water but didn’t need to drink it all, it was a little cooler today then it has been. Plans to do 200+ miles tomorrow. Is feeling good and staying focused.

Rocket Woman

The Orange Train headed to New Mexico last weekend for the 5 day stage race Tour of the Gila. Chellie Terry (Pro 1, 2 womens, pictured above), Kris Lunning (Cat 2 men’s), and Ian Tuttle (Cat 3 men’s) all had great weekends. Highlights include Chellie’s great Crit race on day 4 finishing with the main group, Kris’ amazing 2 man break on day 5 only to be caught inside 5 miles to go, and Ian’s fortitude after a massive pile up in the peloton causing him to go back to town, switch bikes, and chase down the main field. Hopefully we get some more in depth coverage from the riders themselves in the near future. Nice job Ian, Kris, and Chellie!! Check out all the results here.

Good Bus, Magic Bus.

My life changed drastically today thanks to the START Bus Teton Valley Commuter Line! No longer did my commute follow the normal routine of pack the car, race to the gas station (because I forgot to fill up the night before), pull out into the long line of speeding cars, spill coffee in my lap as I shift quickly to keep up with the speeding traffic, curse the other drivers as they make stupid passes on blind corners, try to get a glimpse or two at the snow pack while trying to also watch the road, get stopped at every light, and finally pull into work. Instead I packed up my messenger bag, hopped on my bike, rode to the Victor bus stop, and patiently waited for my luxury coach to arrive. Once there I loaded up my bike, turned on my ipod (check out “The Evens”), opened my book, kicked back, and watched the scenery pass by behind the huge windows. Instead of door to door service I opted to get off at Albertson’s so I could get a little more fresh air riding before settling into work. As I coasted into the bike shop a brew pub employee said, “did you sleep in town last night?”. “Nope, I rode the bus”!

Toby Blanck

We bring many people into our lives throughout the years. I have found only a few that have truly affected who I am as a person both inwardly and outwardly. In 1997 I met Toby Blanck while working at the Fat Tire Farm in Portland, Oregon and I really didn’t like him. I had been working there for months and was fully ingrained in the culture of the shop. As one of the fortunate mechanics who worked in the back away from customer interaction I had surrounded myself with good music, good friends / co-workers, and good coffee. The last thing I needed was some new sales guy bugging me. But that’s what Toby was good at - bugging you, until he broke you down. It didn’t take but a few weeks of being annoyed with him not knowing where anything was and trying to hang in the back with us privileged mechanics before he became my friend. I can’t tell when it happened, but all of a sudden my friend, fellow mechanic and roommate Jeff and I were hanging out with Toby all the time. After work mountain bike rides, after ride Black Butte Porters, and after beer dinners at his house became the norm. Eventually we all stopped working at the Farm and moved out of Portland. I’ve moved away from many places and usually don’t do a great job of staying in touch with good friends as much as I’d like to. For some reason I kept in touch with Toby. Knowing him, I probably didn’t have a choice ! We tried to talk every week, but sometimes the weeks turned into a month or so. Didn’t matter. No time was lost and no real catching up was required. I might as well have ridden with him the day before. When we saw each other they were always my favorite days of the year and I started to realize he had become my best friend. I always had a great time around him, he cared about what was happening in my life, I cared what was happening in his life, we shared the same passions, we made fun of each other all the time, and he truly affected who I am inwardly and outwardly. I didn’t realize how much he helped shape my personality until I found out he had died on March 18th. I sat and thought about the things he taught me and wanted to write them down. After attending his funeral in Tucson I saw how many Best Friends he had made all over the country so I thought the web would be a good place for this list.

Toby thought me the following:

Greet friends with a hug.
Always track stand at a stop light - preferably while looking over at the driver next to you.
How to go on an epic mountain bike ride.
Always finish a mountain bike ride with a pitcher of beer - preferably a Black Butte Porter.
How to be patient with difficult dogs, and difficult people.
How to dance to Blue Grass.
Never run out of red wine when you have friends over to dinner.
How to make a pizza from scratch.
Campagnolo.
How to slack line.
Road biking is just as cool as mountain biking.
How to talk to friends when they have upset you.
How to make friends not be upset with you.
Laugh hard at yourself… first.
Make yourself laugh first… hard.
The beauty of a pun.
Say good by to friends with a hug.
and above all, the only thing that matters is growing old and telling little kids, “hey you, PULL MY FINGER!”

My nose may be big Toby, but your eyebrows were ridiculous!