Cleaned up the aftermath of Winding Trails last night.
I had to free up a chain put away wet, bleed my brakes front and rear, and replace all my brake pads.
About $40 in parts. If I brought it to a bike shop, I could be looking at an additional $64 in labor (which seems fair as it took me about an hour to get Blü2 back up to shape).
Yeah, brake pads wear out, but because of the particulars of racing, a set of pads that might last most of the season, will be toast in 2 hours. If you just go for a ride in the rain you can tailor your ride to trails that are best suited for the conditions like rocky ridges or areas that are firmly bedded in and drain well. But in a race you are riding whatever trail is taped off, no matter the condition.
When you add those costs to the entry fee we're up to $124 to get to ride my bike in the rain for 2 hours.
(okay only $60 because of my mad skillz).
I could say the generous prize Berlin Bike provided offset the cost a bit, but that money must go to appease the powers that be.
There may be divine wisdom in pulling the plug and cutting your losses short.
What's the forecast for Sunday?
3 comments:
Hey Charlie I bought a couple solid rotors for rainy/muddy races. They wear the pads down slower because there are fewer surfaces for wet sand/mud to stick too. It's something we used to do with dirtbikes...especially the rear brake. Another plus is at the end of the race you'll still have pads. Semi metallic pads as opposed to the organic pads last longer too.
I should probably post something like this info on my blog.
I use semi-metallic (you might have heard when I was braking) because I'm a cheap fücker and they last long; stopping is overrated.
Interesting idea about the rotors.
sunday looks great!
I used to use metallic pads with standard rotors. got through four muddy and wet days in Costa Rica with that when everyone was replacing pads daily.
Last year, got tired of pads that seem to get glazed over and went back to resin pads.
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