Sunday, April 29, 2012

2012 Singlespeed A-Palooza: I finished despite many mechanicals!

I arrived at Stewart kind of late after having to get gas in Fishkill but in way it was serendipitous because I parked behind the two guys who put me on the right track two weeks ago when I got miserably lost on my first pre-ride.  One of them gave me a bag of salted, Yukon Gold potatoes and told me they are much better than eating gel or gu.  I threw them into my back pouch and got ready.  The one thing I did this time around is stay away from any caffeine because a reputable source (who happens to be a Roadie) told me that it will lead to cramps.  No coffee in the morning and none of my Gu had caffeine, either.



I started towards the back of the pack and into the first mile my non-drive side crank arm came off!  So I grabbed my bike tool and got it back on.  At the turn onto Scofield I stopped and tightened it some more but I think that was a waste.  At the end of the prologue it was about to fall off again and  the guy from Niner helped me out.  That got me about 8 miles when I noticed it was about to come off again.  This time I took it off and cleaned it out put it back on and it never bothered me during the rest of the course.


Now that the crank issue had been resolved it was time for something else to come up, like my chain dropping.  It would drop whenever I was out of the saddle and mashing on the pedals.  While I started out with good tension, my chain must have stretched because when the drops started happening I noticed it was much looser.  While that wasn't a terrible setback it meant many of the short climbs that I would normally power up out of saddle I had to walk. 



Nothing like Beer and Weenies at the finish line!  
Dark Horse Cycles really knows how to do it right!


I came upon John at the top of the big hill that I had to walk both times.  He had a wardrobe malfunction with his hydration pack and was fixing it when I "passed" by.  Another problem with my crank arm happened when John passed me.  Getting the crank arm back on I took off again and finished the race in 3 hours, 35 minutes, and 11 seconds.  My chain dropped in the last little dip and I ran across the finish line pushing the bike.  83rd out of 89.  Can't wait for next year and here's hoping to no mechanicals!

7 comments:

fabian said...

It was still attached to your foot?! Nice camera work.

steveyo said...

Hey, cool vid. Gives a real sense of the starting dusty stampede. Did you happen to get any of me (the muni-guy) riding, or was I just standing there?

Mark said...

@steveyo I do have another clip from the singletrack along Rt 84 that I have yet to edit. Check back tonight or tomorrow! Good job!

Anonymous said...

Nice video. You were behind me starting at the 2 minute mark on the video. Jen

djKre8 said...

Mark,
It was fine when you removed my picture and comment. But now I see you are a douche for re-working me into your post. I hope you didn't lose too much sleep thinking of a come-back.
You have enough bikes, bring one that works next year.
My point is, I didn't take your pic when you weren't looking and post it on the internet. I was minding my own business trying to enjoy the event. Imagine my surprise when I found it online.
Lastly, and I'm gonna sound like a douche now, but the music you choose for your videos kinda blows. Where do you find music like that? :p
"Fatter than you and slower than you but I still finished it with a smile-"John"

Mark said...

John, it was a knee jerk reaction to delete your comment, remove your picture, then to put it back in and rework my prose. I felt that your picture needed to be in the post due to your outstanding jersey and you deserved to be recognized.

If you would like to have your picture removed permanently I would be willing to do so for a new crankset, otherwise I do take paypal.

Sounds like a challenge for next year. You are on Boyo!

MannyL358 said...

Hey Mark,

Here's the recap video of SSaP.

http://vimeo.com/41694419

- Manny