Getting ready

As I mentioned a little while ago, I've got a sprint tri coming up next weekend. I've done another race at this same location a few years ago, and that time I had to borrow my brother's old full suspension MTB to ride. The worst part (other than the fact that I don't like suspension to begin with) is that he hadn't used/maintained it for so long that the front fork lock-out wasn't working, so by the end of the bike section I was almost sea-sick from the bouncing every time I tried to really push on a climb. This time I'll be driving to his house instead of flying, so I can bring my own bike.

I thought about it a bit and decided to pull the Raleigh off of the trainer and use it. Sure, it's limited gear-wise (a straight 10, and not for climbing, compared to the 21 on the Trucker) but it weighs less, has no racks, and is easier to pack into my truck. I also decided to swap the pedals out. When I first bought it the Raleigh had what looked like original toe clip pedals on it and I pulled them off for clipless. In this case I want the toe clip so I can just wear my running shoes. Since I'm not going for speed the slight benefit of the clipless shoes is more than balanced by only having to put my shoes on once (I'm VERY slow at transitions.)


The only downside is that while I was pulling the non-driveside pedal off I wanged my thumb good - pinched it between the wrench and the crank. Darn thing is still tender. Oh, and the fact that the spare tube from the seat bag had spider webs on it.