Frustration

So I strap my Basso into the trainer to do 1.5 hours of base miles. Shortly after starting to ride, I try to shift into the big ring. The front derailleur wouldn't move far enough over to the right to move the chain on the big ring. I accept this and continue pedaling. 7 minutes into the workout, I realize that I am not going to be able to continue in the little ring; I wasn't working hard enough.

I happened to have my Hex keys and a screw driver nearby, so I tried to adjust the front derailleur. I messed with the set adjust screws and retentioned the cable. After 7 miutes, it's all set, I rode in 3 more minutes, this time in the big ring.

After getting my heart rate into the right place, I hear this scratching which quickly turns to grinding. The chain is rubbing the inside of the front derailleur cage. Now I know something is wrong. I dismount the bike and check the drive side crankarm. Loose. I assumed the the crankbolt had loosened, then I remembered that the Basso has an Italian threaded bottom bracket that unscrews in the same direction that you pedal. Italian engineers are brilliant.

Lacking the patience, time and tools to fix this, I went down stairs to get my race bike to put in the trainer. Only problem is that months ago I poached the seatpost and saddle from my road for my cross bike.

I take down the cross bike and loosen the seatcollar. I try to gently remove the seatpost. Stuck. I start twisting. Still stuck. I start bashing the saddle to break it free. No dice.

Luckily, I have a brand new seatpost waiting for the roadbike. I remove it from the packaging, grease it well and install it. I mount a Specialized saddle that I borrowed to test and dial the whole mess in, which is tedious. There was track standing, a plumb bob and a caliper involved.

When I get the bike upstairs and try to put it in the trainer, I realize that the rear wheel has a lightweight skewer that is incompatible with my trainer interface. So I remove the skewer, lean the bike against the wall and go downstairs to get a suitable skewer. I find an old Campagnolo skewer that I think will work, but once I get it installed on the bike, I find that it is not a good fit. The bike is able to move laterally while torqued into the trainer and, in addition to being unstable, it could result in frame damage.

I repeat the whole rigmarole. I end up making a trainer skewer from a vintage Shimano skewer body and the previously used Campagnolo end piece.

One hour after originally swinging my leg over the Basso, I begin my now abbreviated workout on my IF. Immediately, I figure out I hate the Specialized saddle. It irritates areas that you'd rather not consider and digs into my sit bones. The shape is actually fine, but I need a different width (indeed Specialized saddles come in 3 widths).

Sometimes you are just not meant to get in a good workout. I wish that I could accept this when it happens instead of messing about and half assing my way through repairs and fixes in order to squeeze in the workout.

The Bike Room

Up until 6 months ago, I lived with bikes. If my foot wandered out of the bed in the middle of the night, my toes were likely to get wrapped around a spoke. When I had guests over for dinner, I had to move my road bike out of the dining area. I cleaned my drivetrain at the kitchen table, washed parts in the kitchen sink and did major overhauls in my living room with a beach towel under the work to catch the grease

When I decided to become an adult and purchase a home, having a bike room in my condo was a priority. Though the condo is small, it came with an adequately sized storage space that I have been slowly converting to a world class bike room. My 450 square foot condo feels huge, since I am no longer living with my bicycles underfoot.

The bike room is still a work in progress, but since getting it, my bicycle life has never been so organized. I know where all of my spare parts are.





My spare wheels are no longer getting scuffed from storage and my tools are readily accessible.



I no longer have to think about how I am going to store my working bicycles or worry about them banging together and chipping each other's paint.




In the short time that I have been in the new place, the level of cleanliness and maintenance on the bikes has improved markedly. There is no excuse for no cleaning my bike after a sloppy ride when the bucket of soapy water is sitting right there.



It is easy to lube the chain and top off the tire pressure if the lube and pump have a home that is near the bikes.






Cleaning a cassette is a breeze when the freehub tool, chainwhip and 25 mm wrench are all hung on convenient hooks.



Buying a home established my adulthood to the rest of the world, but setting up a space specifically for bicycles demonstrates my commitment to the sport and represents a benchmark in the maturing of me as a cyclist.

(please note that all of the photography in this post are inspired by the groundbreaking work of Yasushi Katsumi)