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Just another donut

by Matt Smith

September 18, 2011 - Filed under: Company

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Well today was supposed to be the day to finally put the new bike through its paces. Instead, I had to settle for the good ol’ donut ride. Yes, it was kind of a bummer not be able to do the Centurion given the great weather but after discovering the source of the saddle slip yesterday if I had have done the ride it would have meant a possibly difficult and arduous ride.

Yesterday, I did a reverse donut ride where I rode the route in the opposite direction I would normally have done it. I changed the course ever so slightly but it was essentially the same route. When I did the 2007 L’Etape de Tour, Gerard was concerned that I was riding the same route in Switzerland too much and that I wouldn’t be prepared for the Etape. I have kept that in mind to always try to look for unknown, but, safe routes so I could become experienced with an unknown conditions and to learn how to handle them without expending too much energy.

It certainly was different. Lots of different slopes and views I wasn’t used to. It certainly made for an interesting day. And, it was from that ride I discovered the problem with the saddle slip. The bolt hole through the post was becoming enlarged and the vibration of the bike going over the rough roads was causing the saddle to both enlarge the hole, through stress, and to loosen the saddle. I only did a 100 km (60 mi) ride and by the time I had returned home, I had tightened up the saddle once mid-way and at the end it was loose again. I rode the last 4 km out of the saddle as I didn’t want to tighten it any further possibly creating a bigger problem.

Once home, I swapped out the seat post using the one from my R3-SL which is an AX-Lightness. No slouch in the weight department, it comes in a few grams heavier than the Schmolke. It was a tight fit trying to get the post into the R5ca to where I almost did not need the seatpost clamp. Nevertheless, the clamp is still tightened up to the correct spec.
I just wonder how on earth I am going to get that post out when the time comes to do that!

The donut ride today was much smaller than usual as most of the crowd was doing the Centurion. Even though I would have liked to have been freezing my butt off at 7:30 am this morning (reported temperature was 5°C (41°F)), I still enjoyed today’s ride and wasn’t going to sulk about it. A ride is a ride. It was with my weekend friends and we all made it home with our fingers and toes.

On the way to Gramma’s Bakerey, I got to see a hawk perched on a telephone pole which is not an everyday occurance. And on our way back down Kennedy, we were able to get a really nice pace line going between four of us. Yep, that is Cheryl out front again trying to rip our legs off on our way back through the city streets.

I guess I will need to figure out how to really test this machine before the snow flies. Or look at trying to get to Europe to ride an epic ride there.

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