Tricky LBS guy! - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

09-17-2004, 10:21 AM

OK, I'm really up at all the climbing improvement I've had every ride this
week, so I go out this morning all ready to take the baddest hills in my
neighborhood...

I have a short .4 mile warm up ride I do with just two small hills, and I
get into the gear I was in yesterday, and motor up it. Of course that's a
higher/harder gear than Tuesday, but I expect it to be easier than
Wednesday.

But....it's not. So immediately I think, ok, overtraining, just get going
and work the lead out.

Then the second hill, it's hard enough that I have to downshift, but I
don't, I gut it out at 30rpm and stand for the last 20-30 feet.

Hey! I can stand to pedal, with no problems! Until today, I was too close
to the H/B, bit no problem.

Well I keep riding and playing with the new ability to stand, but feeling
like it's cheating, b/c the I'm just zooming up the hill.

Still, I'm pedalling about 1 gear easier than normal on most hills and
getting pissed off, but I grab that anger and gut it out. I even try a new
hill that's about 2-3x longer than the normal killer hill I use to get up
out of hogwallow near the river.

Then on the way back, about 30" out, I happen to think, 'hey, I had this
thing in the LBS last time I rode, maybe they misadjusted the brakes;
afterall I had to get new rear brake pads - the metal was just starting to
show on one side.

Then I see what the problem is. The LBS guy had checked my gears and
deraileurs!

The fiend! ;-p

-B