Smells of Cycling

Of our 5 senses (6 if you are extra special), smell has the most receptors and can pick up the greatest variety. Hearing is pretty good--until you are older--and I'll never scoff at sight. Touch is actually fairly limited--pressure, vibration, stretch--but smell... smell can pick up hundreds of thousands of primary scents. Nearly everything we smell is a bouquet of odors. Some of these we know well.

Gasoline, for example. Nearly everyone knows what gasoline smells like. Lithium grease has a distinctive odor, as well. In fact, every lube has its own smell so it is possible to identify which grease or other lubricant is used where on a bike. Some of the odors can be pleasant, some are not.

Please don't go huffing your lubes. While the odor might be pleasant, the chemicals are not.

Away from the work bench, out on rides, we are assaulted with new smells. Spring is distinctive, as is summer and fall. Here in Oregon, we get the smells of the forest--pine and fir trees, the occasional dead rotting animal carcass, flowers in bloom, and the different types of dirt.

Not to mention the spot of animal poo on the trails from time to time. I think that these are their just to keep us awake and on our toes during the more mundane sections of trail.

On the road, the smells aren't quite to good. Sure there are still the trees and flowers, but mingled with are the smells of cars of trucks--bio-diesel STINKS. Seriously. Worse than any other fuel. The rotting animals, many of them skunks, seem to be more potent and more frequent.

But the smell that I do not understand at all is one of massive body odor. There are two places I've ridden regularly that smell like a very, VERY large stinky person. Who never showers. Or even knows what deodorant is.

I have no idea what is causing this odor.

I used to think that it was me. You know, we all get stinky by the end of the ride, so I rode the route backwards and the odor was still there. And only there, no where else on the route. I also thought it might have been a fellow rider--we've all been on a group ride with someone who is ripe--but no, the odor was there when I rode solo.

While the smells of cycling are part of the sport, I really wish that I could figure out what was making this short section of road smell so bad.

For now, I'm just going to hold my breath.

WIWTBT Vol. 10: BFF(?!) Edition

Photo courtesy of Rapha.

Thanks to Rapha, you now have a way tell your favorite riding buddy just how much he means to you. And, you can do it with style--Rapha style. In my professional opinion, it is much less awkward to give him/her a cycling cap than a two-part heart necklace (I hope you saved your receipt!). With the new Best Friends Forever cap from Rapha, you can proclaim your undying friendship as well as give a practical gift.

Of course, your favorite riding buddy might not merit the "forever" part. Luckily, Rapha once again comes through for you. Sharing the same bill as the "BFF" acronym is the year. So you can feel good about your friendship and still hedge your bets for meeting future riding companions.

Similar, But Different

Normally Jon and I get together to ride about once a year. You see, I reside in western Oregon and he does not. When Interbike rolls around, we make the time to ride together. This year, though, the stars aren't aligning very well, and Interbike is looking like a no-go for both of us. I cannot tell you how bummed this makes me, I'm trying my best to move on each day and not wallow in my despair.

To alleviate this somewhat, I rounded up the family and we made the trek to Jon's abode for a brief visit. While there he and I were able to get in a fairly lengthy mountain bike ride. Jon was riding his Jekyll and I was riding an older F4000 hardtail. While riding--and since--there were something that struck me about our different riding styles.

- He prefers short travel bikes. I prefer something with a little more give.

- Jon likes to climb. So do I, but I prefer the resulting downhill.

- He is more of a roadie than I am. He's even shaved his legs, while mine remain wonderfully hairy. Neither of us use a visor on our helmets, though. There are limits.

- Jon is more of a weight-weenie than I am, though I do enjoy light bikes.

- My Jekyll was set up with more relaxed angles, while his is decidedly more upright.

- We have different tastes in saddles, wheels and handlebars.

This last one has been particularly beneficial for us. It is do to this last difference that many, many parts have shipped between us over the years. He'll have a saddle that doesn't work for him, but does for me. Or, I'll have a set of wheels that is more his style and he'll have a set that works better for me. We'll swap. These exchanges just wouldn't be possible if we had the same tastes in gear.

The latest exchange was a shock that he wanted for his Jekyll and handlebars that I wanted for my road bike. The bars in question are FSA K-Wing carbon bars.

He didn't like the bend--he prefers a traditional round bend--and he didn't like the bare carbon tops. I happen to like both, after all, the gigantic bar ends on my mountain bike are bare carbon, too. Because these bars are 31.8mm, I also needed his stem, my old stem was 26.0mm. I finally got out and rode on them today and I really like the shape of the bars. They fit my riding style perfectly. I found the flat bar tops to be just the right shape for climbing. I also like to rest my forearms on the bar tops while descending--somewhat dangerous, so I don't recommend it--and these are much more comfortable than round bars.

I spend so little time in the drops that the bend doesn't affect me one way or the other. It's fine.

Unfortunately for Jon, he has yet to try out the shock due to an oversight of mine. While carting the shock to him, I failed to bring the required mounts.

The mounts are in the mail, honest.

Like Losing an Old Friend

There is one thing that I don't particularly like about fat-tubed aluminum bikes. They are sounding boards for every creak, rattle, or knock. This makes any sound amplified and harder to track down. I'll get my Jekyll silent for a short while, then after a dusty ride it'll be a cocophony of noise once again.

A few weeks ago, I had had enough.

I popped the bike into the work stand and began removing parts. I stripped the rear of the bike down to the frame, and then I went to remove the rear swingarm. One side of the pivot axle was just fine. The other--drive side--was not. The retaining bolt was cracked.

Huh.

I called down to my usual shop (Hutch's in Eugene, OR) and explained the issue. Since the Jekyll hasn't been in production since '05, we weren't sure if I could find a replacement. They, however, had one from another frame. The axle, while used, was in good shape. I was back in business.

The creak was still there.

Back onto the stand went the bike. When I replaced the pivot axle, I had pulled the cranks, but did not pull the bottom bracket. Nor did I pull the the forward shock mount. The creak could be eminating from either of those. Or the pedals. Or the seat clamp. Or the front derailleur clamp.

It was time to get serious. It was time to clean the bike.

Once again, I pulled the everything from the rear of the bike, the cranks, the swingarm and the bottom bracket. I started cleaning the grimed caked on around the main pivot and bottom bracket area and discovered a crack in the frame. Huh. "That's not good," I thought to myself. I better get out the camera. The crack was on the drive side, same as the damaged portion of the pivot axle. I think that the two are related, though I can't even begin to determine which failed first.

Once again I picked up the phone and called down to the shop. I emailed them the pictures--the one above and another higher res version so that they could zoom in better than you--and started the warranty process.

At this point I should note that I am a fan of Cannondale bikes. Even though this one is failing after 6 years of hard riding it has performed admirably as my test mule. All aluminum frames have a finite life. That's just the nature of the beast. That Cannondale stands behind their frames is reason enough to continue to ride then. Plus, I like the way they ride and the way they fit me.

I'll miss my Jekyll. I've ridden lots of places on it and hasn't let me down. The adjustability of the bike made it the perfect test mule for different components. If was reviewing a long travel fork, I'd adjust the angles to match. If I was reviewing a shorter travel fork, I could, again, dial in the angles to get the same, predictable, ride.

I look forward to abusing using the new frame for at least as long as my Jekyll. RIP Jekyll, you've been good.