Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Thanks Middleburn.....for being crappy.

Yesterdays plans to ride weren't unlike any other days. JeffP headed over to the Palmetto trail in Spartanburg for a little "chill" ride, mainly cause there aren't any major climbs and it's a good place to get a nice, fun, chill ride in....that was the plan. Only major difference is i decided to ride my bone jarring rigid Cannondale today instead of the Niner. No biggy, besides I've been inspired by all the rigid SSer's around here...very talented riders.....so I thought I'd give it a shot.





We get geared up, and head out, cruise by the stream, through the wide open field...then start getting into some tighter singletrack with some rollers...no worries. SNAP. Oh my change came off, not a big deal, happens occasionally especially with no bash guard....but no...something else is wrong? Why is my chain ring bent, i didn't hit anything, no wreck, i mean this is the first "off-road" ride I've done on it? Oh, wait a minute...i see... the extremely overpriced spider i purchased from the "everything we build is built to last for years of hard core riding" British company, Middleburn, in order to convert this existing XTR crank over...has simply...failed. Nice. Thus begins my hour long walk out in extremely stiff carbon soled shoes. No fun.







Please note the extremely clean drive train, the perfectly straight teeth on the chain ring....and the spider that absolutely freaking failed. There will be a definite call today, warranty will be filed. I'd like to say it's because I'm so powerful that it broke, but that's probably not true. However this is the second time I've bent a chain ring....maybe i am THOR? Who knows. The day wasn't a total wash, hows that saying go? "All's well that ends well". And it definitely ended well.

I found this little viedeo floating around the intraweb and just had to share it...if your a cycling fan you'll definetly get a kick out of it. Some poeple have too much time on there hands when they should be....blogging? I dunno.

12 days till Leadville. Please no mechanicals.

1 comment:

dicky said...

Just an FYI:

It may not have been you Middleburn piece that caused the failure. Lots of folks have folded their steel Surly rings. If it folded I'm sure it woulda put a lot of stress on your spider.

Go with a Salsa or a Blackspire ring next time (or a beefy steel one from Tomicogs).