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Rest in peace dear sweet Mara

Thank you for praying for Mara and her family. She passed away this morning after a strong and courageous battle with a brain tumor, DIPG. Please hug and kiss your kids.

STP Day 2

As expected the second day was a bit more tiring, but the biggest change was the heat.  From the time we crossed the Columbia River to the time we crossed the finish line in Holladay Park, it was in the mid to high 90*s.  That made hydration a challenge.  Our group forked into groups based on riding speed.  Not having a functioning cycle computer on this trip I could only guess, but think we must have averaged 18mph even considering the mild climbs.

The most exciting part is that my handlebars did not shear off while riding the last 100 miles.  I have to deal with that as well as repacking the bearings on my wheels.  Everyone I rode with did an awesome job.  The returning riders all did better than last year and Brandon was very strong in his rookie STP event.  We should all consider riding the 200 miles in a single day in 2009.

STP Day 1

This morning had its share of technical problems. My rear hub was making a suspicious squeal and my GPS cycle computer wouldn’t turn on. The good news is the hub still spun well, so the bike was ridable, even if I didn’t know where or how fast I was riding.

Later in the day I isolated a suspicious “click” to the right side of my handlebars. Initially I thought it was the STI lever, but after reproducing it a few different ways, I concluded it’s the handlebar itself. There’s a slight crack to the right of my stem clamp. To mitigate the problem, I’ve slid the bar to the left, so that the crack is underneath the clamp.

Physically I’m feeling pretty good. My feet hurt and I even had some small blisters on the balls of my feet. I’m not totally wiped out or in pain, just really thirsty and wishing it wasn’t so damn hot outside in Centralia. We’re camping out in the college square and the sun is beating down with warm 90+ degree temperatures.

I’ll fill in on some of the interpersonal stuff in a later post. There’s some comedy for sure.

Credit cards aren’t all bad

So my lovely Satellite Toshiba laptop broke and needed a major repair. I’ve read this problem happened to several other people with the same laptop and Toshiba refuses to admit a design flaw. I had to call Toshiba 6 different times to get someone that could understand me and I understand him/ her and it proved to be a total waste of time. Of course my computer was a couple months outside the manufacturer’s warranty and considering the horror stories I’ve heard about Amazon’s warranty services, I decided against an extended warranty. I’ve since learned not to do this with Toshiba products, my former television should have taught me this lesson. So, anyway, I called my platinum credit card company and told them I had purchased the computer using that card and asked if there wasn’t some sort of extended warranty protection through them. They sent me a bunch of paperwork to fill out and requested the warranty, the receipt and credit card statement. I found all of this on-line, faxed it in and found out today that my credit card company is reimbursing me all $381 for the repairs. Lessons learned, use a platinum card when making a purchase you think could need repairs in the future, keep copies of the receipts and warranties associated with the purchase and download your monthly credit card statements to your computer to have in the future. Turns out platinum cards will most often add a year onto a standard manufacturer’s warranty. Wish I had thought of this when our television broke =)

Square Taper Bottom Brackets

Today, after days of trying all manner of things to eliminate clicking noises from my new Sugino XD crankset I believe I’ve got things in order.  See the trouble is there all sorts of conflicting information about how to properly remove and install Shimano square taper bottom brackets and cranksets.

Some of the key points of contention are:

1. Grease or no grease on the tapered spindles
2. Grease or loctite on crank bolts
3. How much to tighten crank bolts
4. Grease or loctite on bottom bracket threads

In general if you grease the threads of a bolt, you will be able to torque it more than if it were dry.  Some folks take this to mean using grease increases the risk of over tightened parts.  Perhaps this is why the Campagnolo specs for their square taper bottom brackets says NO to use grease on the spindles.

Also, loctite seems like a smart idea, but it really depends on how often you need to remove the bolts.  It also can leave some gunky stuff that you have to clean out before tightening back up.  After a point it’s almost like having old glue residue clogging up threads.

Here’s how I installed a Shimano UN-54 bottom bracket and Sugino XD crankset on my Kona Dew Deluxe.

1. Clean all parts.  This includes the threads on the inside of the BB shell on the frame.
2. Grease the BB shell threads.
3. Thread the plastic non-drive side BB cup.  I got mine to about 25lb.ft.  Spec says more is ok, but I’ve broke stuff acting like a gorilla before.
4. Grease the smooth plastic of the cup where it’ll come in contact with the BB cartridge
5. Thread  the cartridge.  Take note to include any spacers as necessary.  I’d neglected this and believe it contributed to a “clicking” noise when the drive side crank was at 1:00.  If you do include a spacer(s), be sure to grease all sides of it.  I tightened this to about 25lb.ft as well.
6. Attach crank arms to BB spindles.
7. Grease crank bolt threads and the inside of the bolt heads.
8. Tighten the crank bolts to spec, or be a wuss like me and stop around 30lb.ft.

Most professional bicycle mechanics I talk to don’t ever specify torque settings - instead they tell me “I tighten by feeling”.  That must be why their labor rates are so high.