It’s been an unusual week in terms of bike activity. I’ve not been able to ride much, though I’ve had lots going on with the bike.
For a while now – probably three weeks or so – I’ve needed to book a full repair for my bike. I needed a new chain, a puncture repair, and a replacement of the cassette. Finally, I got all these things sorted on Wednesday.
However, like a Grade A Chimp, I forgot to buy the exact same cassette to switch out the old Sunrace one that I’d been using on my turbo. So as soon as I put the freshly spruced up bike back on the turbo, I heard the tell tale clicking and unwanted shifting of poor indexing. Bah. Immediately I knew I would need to order a second cassette, and wouldn’t be riding that night.
That was Wednesday. And by some small miracle, Amazon were able to deliver me a Shimano CS-HG41-7 for £23 or so on next day. So that arrived yesterday, but late enough in the evening (about 6pm) that I couldn’t get the thing fitted (a 5 minute job) in time to get in a ride what with my Mrs heading out for the evening at 7pm.
But still, I did have everything done and dusted to the point where I could easily jump on the bike today. And so that’s exactly what I did.
I decided to do an easy ride today. The reasoning was two fold.
Firstly, earlier this week I was suffering from knee pain. I didn’t want to jump into something harder as my first ride after several days off, not knowing how I’d get on. It turned out that whilst I got a largely satisfying click / pop out of my right knee cap about 5 minutes in, that all pain has now seemed to have subsided. Result.
Secondly, I thought there might be a risk that the new chain / cassette combo wouldn’t quite mesh.
The bike mechanic had warned me that I really do need to replace my front chain ring, and that as a result of the teeth being quite worn, there would be some feedback noticeable through the pedals.
Now, I have to say that yes, I could feel something, in some gears. I didn’t try the small ring, but in the big ring there was definitely something there. But compared to my old chain? Lordy me. It was like new bike day… I assume. I mean, this is my first bike, so I have no idea how nice a new bike feels because at the time I bought this one, I had neither anything to compare it too, nor any idea what it should feel like.
Anyway, it feels significantly better than it did.
Which does make me wonder how many free watts I’ve gained 😀
The other important thing the bike mechanic told me was that there’s a gash in my rear tyre. That sucks. It means I need a new tyre before I can ride outside, or I do run a highly increased risk of puncture.
Well, it’s my own fault.
When I punctured I had been running low pressure. Much lower pressure than I ought to have been. The reasoning was sound, in my head at least. Having hit some mushy stuff on the guild wheel and found myself slipping, I’d taken a bit of air out to give myself more tyre to tarmac contact. But I must have taken out a bit too much air, as the puncture was definitely as a result of low pressure and pot hole becoming best friends.
Anyway, it felt nice to get back on. I’m reassured that I can give it a bit harder in my next session, which is nice as I want that to be Norseman Workout #5.
I shall be booking the bike back in for a new chain ring and tyre replacement. Until then though, it’s going to be a turb-ho-ho-ho Christmas I think.
BTW – any advice on a good chain ring setup is much appreciated. I figured a Shimano one would be a good shout, but beyond that, it’s a bit of a minefield and I’m not sure what part I actually need.