One of the most important maintenance activities concerning a bicycle is cleaning the chain.  With the miles I put in, I have to attend to it every week or two.  Anything that can make it faster and easier, I’m all over it.  I read about a simple hack a while back that makes it so ridiculously quick (and easy) that I had to share it (now that I finally got around to actually putting it together)…

First, because I use Finish Line Ceramic Wet Lube, all I need to clean the outside of the chain is a damp, soapy towel….  Then, to clean in between the plates and rollers, my new tool:

In the photo above, notice that I have the brushes separated a little bit.  I did this for ease of cleaning after use.  I simply put the brushes over the chain and squeeze.  I worked them back an forth a little bit because I’m a little silly that way:

Sure enough, the chain isn’t perfect, but certainly quite clean (except that stupid plate right in the middle of the photo, because that’s just my dumb luck):

Anyway, cleaning the chain took a mere two minutes.  I did, for the record, go back and get the offending plate.  Sheesh.

Try it out, it’s as easy as it gets.

Last year, on the fourth day of DALMAC, I hit a monster pothole and broke the bottle cage that was holding a tool keg on a saddle mount.  I needed a new cage so I could carry my tools and thankfully the first stop of the day was at a bike shop in Harbor Springs…  Unfortunately, with all of the activity, it took them quite a few minutes to mount a new one on the seat tube and then mount the one on the seat tube on the saddle mount.  The group I was with headed up the road but my two best friends, Mike and Phill, hung back to pull me back to the group.  They worked their asses off to get me to the next stop in enough time I could fire down a quick burger before we headed out for the final 25 miles.

I don’t know as I’ll ever forget that.

This year Phill was struggling to hold on with the group after the bike shop stop (no potholes or busted cages this year!).  There are some gnarly hills coming out of Harbor Springs and Phill was losing contact on every one.  I, on the other hand, was feeling quite lively.  I could have, had I felt like it, been among the first three guys up every hill and I was working back and forth in the group to take photos and fill gaps for guys.  The group waited for Phill twice, but after the third time he dropped on a hill, they kept rolling.

Entering the tunnel of trees at the start of 119, I held back and waited for my friend to catch up.  I pulled for him the entire 8 miles up to the next stop and even caught a few other stragglers from the group who hopped on.  I even managed to snap a few photos along the way…

At some point, Phill said that I didn’t have to wait, that he’d make it eventually.  I replied, “I seem to remember a friend of mine doing this exact same thing for me last year.”  I can’t describe the feeling of usefulness and good that comes with helping a friend like that, hopefully that comes through in the recounting of the day.

We made excellent time and had plenty left to scarf down some good food.  In Good Hart, MI of all places.

Now this is one of very few times you’ll ever see me admit this flat out on this blog, and I only offer this to emphasize its importance…

Several people who have commented on some of my posts lately have noticed that, to me, cycling is much more than just riding a bicycle.  Cycling is about friends and family sharing a wonderful experience and staying fit together.  My cycling friends are just as important to me as my AA friends.

If I don’t have my cycling friends, included in that group are my wife and daughters, cycling would be diminished to a workout, a trip to the gym.  Cycling is vastly more than just a way to build muscle and health.  Cycling is belonging to a great family, the vast majority of which are exceptional people.

After we hit the finish line yesterday and were headed to the showers, my friend found me, came over, and thanked me for sticking with him.

I offered that it was my pleasure and thanked him for letting me return the favor.  He would have had to knock me off my bike to get me to leave him.

That’s just how we roll.

In case I haven’t made it perfectly clear in the past, my wife ROCKS.  We bucked a headwind all day again yesterday but we managed to knock more than a half-hour off our rolling time.  

We also had much nicer, though cooler, weather to start.  A gentle breeze that intensified as the day wore on.  

Our group grew as we passed other riders along the way but we’d spit one off the back as fast as we picked new riders up.  

By the time we hit 65 miles, a few of the guys had had enough.  They decided to break of and do the short route.

Matt, Chuck, Doug and I stuck with the long route.  We were there to ride our bikes with our buds, so cutting miles off didn’t make sense, even if we were hurting.  
Much to my amazement, we actually toned it down to an enjoyable level… until we got passed by a Kubota.  Doug moved first and I jumped on his wheel.

Dude, the farmer driving that bad boy was cool.  He knew we were there, even waived to us.  That photo was taken at 25 mph, and it was like we were pedaling for 20.

When I noticed Chuck and Matt didn’t make the jump, we stopped for a photo op… you’ll understand why.

I don’t do that enough.  Too much get-there-itis.  

The Four Amigos

So, Mrs. Bgddy shows up like an angel, at 91 miles out of 101 and pulls us home the whole way, and fast enough that our average went up from 8.3 mph to 8.5… and then set up the camper while I sat there catching my breath.

Words cannot to that justice.

Still on pace for a 3,200 mile month.  😎

Last year for the Assenmacher 100 the whole Affable Hammers gang left right at 8 am.  We started out with 40 and within 20 miles we caught and picked up two more groups.  We had a full peloton of more than 70 cyclists in a double pace line.  

Cars couldn’t pass and motorists became obviously agitated trying to get by us.  

This year we decided to stagger the groups so that didn’t happen.  We also split up the A’s and B’s, not so much to shrink the group but so we could enjoy the ride rather than finish with our tongues hanging out, completely dusted.

It turned out to be an excellent idea.

We had a deep group and the strongest tandem couple on the whole course:

Ladies and gentlemen, we had a 10-14 mph wind in our face for all of 54 miles and they pulled the whole way.  I was second or third bike for 45 of those miles before I finally went back for a rest, and we averaged 19.4 when we pulled into the rest stop at 57 miles.

We fueled up, filled our bottles, and let some water back out and rolled – but not before we took a minute for a group photo:

20 miles after that photo, Adam was done.  Put a fork in him done.  We were sitting at 19.8 mph but had a wicked tailwind.  Dave, the middle guy in yellow and I took the front and pulled for five miles.  I headed back a few bikes and took a spot in front of Adam and Diane so I could make sure they got the best draft possible. 

We were cranking out miles north of 24 mph.

This is why I chose to go along with a B group.  I could have gone with the A guys. I’d have been spit off the back somewhere around 80 miles and I’d still have ended with a 21 to 22 mph average.  I’d have been hanging on at the back the whole time, tongue hanging out, and I’d have been spent.

Instead, we finished the hundred miles at 4:58:10 and I was useful to my friends.

I enjoy helping people I like ride faster than they would if I wasn’t there.  I like being a contributing member of the group.  In the end, being able to say I was useful at 20.2 mph is way better than only being able to say I finished with a 21.5 mph average.  Any day of the week and, in this case, twice on Sunday. 

So, back to the title…  No noodle salad on hand and we had tacos for dinner so noodle salad would have been a little off.  However, two minutes after we pulled into the parking lot I was munching on two coney dogs, and they were good.  

That was good enough.

This will go down as one of my most enjoyable Assenmacher Hundreds.  I worked hard but I had big fun.  And my buddy, Mike, recovering from open heart surgery, was at one of the corners cheering us on.  It was a special day, all around.